


Trials

by Laure Alexander (ladyoneill)



Series: The Erotic Adventures of Willow and Spike [51]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Angst, BDSM, Canon-Typical Violence, Dubious Consent, F/F, F/M, M/M, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Sire/Childe, Whipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-07
Updated: 2013-07-29
Packaged: 2017-12-14 05:01:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 14
Words: 62,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/833043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyoneill/pseuds/Laure%20Alexander
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My take on Faith and Wesley, Buffy's eighteenth birthday, the Cruciamentum, all in TEAOW&S.  In the first chapter, Faith and Wesley arrive in Sunnydale.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> The penultimate story in the series (with one interlude before the finale story) took nearly two years to write and was twenty eight chapters long. These were divided up into fourteen chapters and will be published that way here. The major difference from canon (outside of the facts of TEAOW&S) is that Faith comes to town later than on the show and with Wes as her Watcher. A lot of things are revealed in this story, a lot of emotion comes out, and relationships grow even stronger. It flows directly from "A New Year". This first chapter was originally published on July 16, 2000. While this chapter is tame, some chapters are explicit and there is some near non-con. Please read chapter notes for warnings.

Buffy was pacing. She had been pacing for over an hour. Each step fell with a clack of her boot heel on the tiled floor of the Library as she moved from cage to check out counter to door to cage. Giles had stopped watching her after five minutes and had given up on getting her to stop after ten.

He sat at the table, poring over his official journals. Not only was Buffy's life coming under scrutiny, but so was his, and every decision he had made and failed to make would be examined and judged.

The journals weren't complete. He had never entered the information about Willow and Spike or Buffy and Angel, after Angel's loss of his soul. He had never been able to bring himself to do so.

And he had known that to do so would condemn them all. There had always been the chance that the Watcher's Council would call for an audit and demand to see his journals before the death of his slayer.

But, Giles had never expected that the second slayer would be sent to Sunnydale to 'help out'. That was a glaring slap at Buffy's abilities and his own tutelage. Although they had never said it in so many words, the Council obviously believed he and Buffy were not doing their duty to their fullest extent.

And the Council was right.

But, how could he explain that his Slayer was in love with the enemy and couldn't kill him or most of his followers?

That would get them eliminated for sure.

Giles had never told Buffy of the dark side of the Council and what they did to rogue slayers and watchers. He had hoped, perhaps in error, that her misdeeds would never come to light, that as long as she continued to slay and his reports continued to glow with her achievements, no one from the Council would ever come to Sunnydale.

He prayed his error in judgment wouldn't cost them dearly.

As they waited for the arrival of the new Slayer and Watcher, Giles' thoughts drifted back to the night before when Buffy had stormed into his apartment, her face an ashen mask.

~~~~~

"When do they arrive?" she asked as greeting.

Giles looked up from his glass of Scotch and blinked blearily. "Tomorrow evening."

"What are we going to do, Giles?"

"Lie." He took a sip of his drink, savoring the warmth it brought.

Buffy's brows furrowed and she picked up the half empty bottle. "How much of this have you had?"

"Not enough." He grabbed the bottle from her and set it down hard, "Don't you dare lecture me, Buffy."

At his cold tone, Buffy dropped her eyes to the floor and sank to the couch next to him. "What are we going to do?" she asked again, her voice begging him to help her.

Giles sighed heavily and leaned back into the corner of the couch, his bloodshot eyes fixing on her. "My reports have been glowing, my journals say nothing of your...indiscretions. I shall lie as I have been since July. You will spend more time patrolling and less time..." He made a dismissive noise of disgust which made her flinch. "The more kills you rack up the better."

"And how do I hide Angel from the new Slayer?"

"You managed to hide him from me for five months," Giles replied coldly.

Buffy paled at the anger in Giles, but knew she deserved it. "I'm sorry, Giles."

"No, you're not."

"I'm sorry for hurting you," she clarified. "Please, Giles, I need your help more than ever now."

"I know, Buffy, I know," he sighed heavily. "I don't like how this appears to be almost a sneak attack. I've known that there's been a breakdown in communication with the Council since that incident with Mrs. Post. I've been trying to discover the identity of the new Slayer since Kendra's death last September at the hands of Trick. I wasn't even informed that Mr. Zabutu had died as well until two months later. All I know of the new Slayer is that her name is Faith, she's seventeen, and from Boston. Her Watcher is a Wesley Wyndham-Price."

"Do you know him?"

Giles shook his head. "No. As you know, the Council has no computer records of anything, living in the dark ages as they do, so all I could discover is that he is young and promising."

"Great," Buffy replied heavily.

~~~~~

As she paced, Buffy's mind went over her conversation with Angel the night before. They had been at Willow's for what had been supposed to be a fun evening of watching football bowl games on New Year's Day. After the phone call from Giles, the fun had devolved into a loud discussion of the repercussions and implications of the new Slayer's arrival.

~~~~~

"It's easy. I kill the bitch."

Buffy glared at Angel who gave her a grin of eager anticipation as he placed his hands behind his head in the easy chair in which he sat, stretching his legs out in front of him.

"I'm not letting her do anything to Willow. I'll kill her first," Spike vowed, his voice low, his hand wrapped tightly around Willow's as they sat together on the couch.

"No, Spike, no, not for me." Placing two fingers on his cheek, Willow turned him to face her. "Not for me."

"I won't let her hurt you. I won't let anyone hurt you."

Angel's snort and eye rolling was ignored by all.

"This is a challenge to you, Buffy," Xander interjected. "They're saying you're doing a crummy job as slayer.

"Which you are," Cordelia added, then sank back into her chair as everyone glared at her. "What? She is. She doesn't even try to kill psycho boy there anymore." She pointed to Angel and he growled at her. "Or half his stupid clan. I mean, sure you still face the big evils and win, but how often do you patrol? And, I mean, really patrol, not boff Angel in the cemetery."

From her position in front of the fake fireplace, Buffy reddened and shot Cordelia a half-heartedly nasty look. The cheerleader was right, as usual.

"Tact, Cordelia," Willow murmured.

"So, the new Slayer comes to town tomorrow, goes patrolling, and I kill her." Angel shrugged, still grinning. "I don't see a problem here."

"For one, there'll be another slayer toddling along after her," Spike snapped at his sire. "For two..."

"Willow doesn't want you too," Angel sneered. "You are so totally pussy whipped, boy."

Spike growled, his hands fisting, but Willow restrained him with one gentle touch.

"For two," Spike continued emphatically. "You start killing her sister slayers and how long do you think Buffy will continue to spread her legs for you?"

"Euuu, mental image!" Xander yelled.

Buffy glared darkly at the blond vampire. "Stop helping me, Spike."

Everyone started arguing at once until finally Willow's voice rose loud enough to cut through the din. "Cut it the fuck out, all of you!" As the room fell silent, she blushed furiously. "We have to deal with this logically. Hopefully Buffy can prove that she can handle the Hellmouth, and we all know she can, and the new Slayer will go back wherever she came from. Until then, we'll all have to be on our toes. No overt vampireyness from you guys, no attacking the new Slayer or Buffy. Angel, you warn your clan to lay low if they want to survive." She looked up at Spike. "No biting me in public."

Willow turned to glance at the agitated Slayer. "You and Angel have to scale back your...encounters, and you have to patrol nightly, and slay." Buffy nodded and Willow continued, her voice confident as her quick mind worked out a plan. "Spike and I will go to the airport and see if she can tell that he's a vampire. Their flight is private, but it's arriving at the same time as the nightly commuter flight from L.A., so there will be a crowd of people. If she can tell he's a vampire, she won't try to slay him in the terminal and there's a hidden sewer access there we can reach easily. If she can't tell, then Spike and I can continue to be seen together in public and...if Angel can behave," and her voice gave no indication of any faith in his ability to do so, "the two of you can play at boyfriend and girlfriend."

"What fun," Angel sneered. "We can go to the malt shop."

"This isn't funny, Angel." Buffy stalked over to him, only to be grabbed and dragged onto his lap.

"It's never funny when something threatens what belongs to me," he replied, his voice low and hard. "If we can't kill her, I'll play this game for you, but only for so long, my love, only for so long."

Swallowing hard against sudden tears, Buffy nodded and sank into his embrace.

~~~~~

The ringing of the phone startled both Giles and Buffy out of their contemplations. Buffy reached the phone first, and, after determining that it was Willow, she put it on speaker.

"They've just deplaned. He's...well, he looks like a younger Giles, more stuffy maybe. She's a brunette, wiry, edgy, wearing a pretty cool outfit."

Holding a cell phone to her ear, Willow watched from a position next to the arrivals board. Spike stood just inside the door, a small group of people with him. The Watcher and Slayer entered the terminal and walked right past him.

Letting out a huge sigh of relief, Willow continued, "They didn't notice Spike. She didn't even twitch or hesitate."

"That's how I was at the beginning," Buffy replied. "You two get out of there. I'll call you later tonight, Will, after the first round of the inquisition. And, thanks."

Willow smiled. "You're welcome. Hang in there."

Hanging up the phone, the redhead watched the pair sweep by her. The Slayer wore a well-worn jeans jacket, faded t-shirt and jeans, and carried a black duffel over one shoulder, while the Watcher--a handsome, young man in an expensive suit--carried a briefcase. They both had determined looks on their faces, but the Slayer's faded to a grin as she blew a bubble with her gum.

For a moment, Willow smiled, thinking that she might like to get to know this girl, but then the moment faded and reality returned. The new Slayer was just too much of a danger to all of them and everything they had in Sunnydale.

Spike joined her, sliding his arm around her waist. "She didn't notice me, but I knew immediately what she was."

"You've been around just slightly longer than she has."

He followed the pair with hardened eyes. "And, if need be, she won't be around much longer."

"Stop it," Willow scolded, frowning. "She isn't going to come after me. I won't give her any reason to."

"And if she goes after my sire? Dru?" Their eyes met. "If she tries to kill Buffy? That Council isn't all hearts and flowers, luv. I've heard things over the years. Elimination squads, assassinations, manipulating through money, influence and magic the politics and religions of the world, not to mention the people. Buffy's the oddity, Willow. More often than not the Council takes a young girl from her family and raises her to be a potential slayer. Sometimes they pay off the family, sometimes they just off them."

Willow flinched visibly.

"They're not nice people, luv, and we can't trust that they have any nice plans in store for Buffy and Giles."

"Then we do what we can to help, but killing has to be the last resort." She looked up at him, her eyes full of pleas.

Spike sighed heavily and finally nodded. "Come on, Angel will want my report and...I want you in my bed and my arms as soon as possible."

Smiling slightly, Willow wrapped her arm around him and leaned against him as he led her out of the terminal.

*****

Buffy hung up the phone and took several deep cleansing breaths.

"Can you do this, Buffy?"

She nodded at her mentor and took a seat at the table, her fingers curling around the hard wooden edge. "Yeah, I have to, don't I."

"Be casual, courteous, friendly even. We have nothing to hide, remember?"

Snorting slightly, she nodded again and picked up a stake off the table, twirling it between her fingers to keep herself busy and her mind off all the possible outcomes of the meeting to come.

*****

Angel was waiting for them in the foyer of the mansion and he jerked his head towards the Library, then stomped in there. Willow and Spike followed, hands tightly clasped together. Drusilla lounged on a red velvet sofa before the fireplace, reading. At their entrance, she set aside her book and looked up expectantly. Angel took a position in front of the fire, one arm resting on the mantle, his pose deceptively casual.

"Well?"

"She didn't notice I was a vampire."

"What's she look like?" Angel asked.

Spike shrugged. "Pretty, I guess. Brunette, about five eight, full of energy, I could see that from the way she walked, dressed for fighting in jeans and docs. Her Watcher looked like a bit of a ponce."

"They usually do, but they often turn out to be as nasty as Rupert." Angel growled deep in his throat and his eyes flashed gold for a moment. "I hate this waiting shit. I should have just gone to the airport and torn their throats out."

"And they'd send someone new in a couple of months," Spike explained patiently.

"That would give us a couple more months of peace," Angel argued. "I'll do it, too, if the bitch lays one finger on Buffy."

Spike couldn't contain his smirk, though he looked quickly away from his angry sire.

Drusilla didn't have his good sense, though. "Daddy loves the nasty Slayer," she sang softly, her finger tracing patterns on the velvet arm of the sofa.

Furious, Angel grabbed the vampiress off the sofa and shook her hard. "Don't ever fucking say that again." He raised his hand to hit her and Willow cried out.

"Stop! Don't hit her."

With a growl Angel threw Drusilla to the floor where she crumpled into a weeping heap of silk and velvet, and stalked towards Willow. Realizing her mistake, the red head back peddled quickly until she ran into the door. Angel stormed right past Spike, who stared at the floor in impotent despair.

Flattening his hands on the hard wood on either side of her head, Angel glared down at her fear-filled yet defiant face. "Do you want to take her place, Willow?" he asked, his voice silky and deadly.

"She spoke the truth," Willow whispered bravely.

He didn't explode, just continued in the same tone of voice. "You think I love Buffy? You think this dead and rotting heart of mine can feel anything pure like that? Do you even recognize the difference between love and lust, little girl?"

"I know the difference." Her voice wavered but her eyes stayed locked on his.

"And do you recognize rage when you see it? Or will you have to feel its results before you learn not to antagonize me?" Angel bellowed, making her flinch back and bang her head hard on the door.

Spike began to growl, his own fury building rapidly. Hands fisted, he turned to his sire, but before he could launch himself at the older male's back, Drusilla's hand wrapped around his arm, tugging him backwards.

"No," she whimpered. "No, don't."

Angel spun around from the door and sneered nastily at his two childer--the one so furious and about to attack, the other terrified of what such an attack might bring. "I can't have whom I want in my bed tonight," he said softly. "So, which one of you three will take her place? I can't guarantee that you'll find much pleasure, since I'm royally pissed off." His voice rose to a yell as he spoke, his eyes glittering with demonic fire, his body tensed for battle.

"You're like a child," Spike yelled back. "You can't get your way, so you take it out on those around you. Well, if you're going to be a child, I'll be a man. Leave Willow and Dru alone, you prick, and take your pissy mood out on me."

"No," both Willow and Drusilla protested.

Angel grabbed Willow and shoved her into the middle of the room and away from the door so that he could open it. The girl fell heavily against Drusilla and they both toppled to the floor. Not looking back at them, Spike stormed out of the room, buoyed by his own anger. Angel just smirked at the two females untangling themselves on the floor, and closed the door behind himself.

*****

The door to the Library opened and the stake in Buffy's hand clattered to the table top. Nervously she smoothed her sweaty palms over her jean clad knees and watched the pair walking into the room.

"Mr. Giles?" the man asked, his demeanor cool and professional.

Giles rose, straightening his suit jacket and approached the other man. "Mr. Wyndham-Price, I presume?" he asked, his hand extended.

"Yes." The two men shook hands briefly.

"Welcome to Sunnydale." Giles turned his attention to the young woman who seemed to be nearly bouncing out of her skin. "And you must be Faith."

"Yeah." She snapped her gum, her eyes darting around the room. "Nice hideout you got here." Her eyes fell on Buffy and she smiled broadly. "And this must be the infamous Buffy. I'm Faith."

Buffy rose slowly to her feet, trying to ignore the feeling of dread building inside her. Plastering a fake smile on her face, she walked over to the new Watcher and Slayer.

End Trials: Arrival


	2. Whipping Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angel overreacts and takes it out on Spike; after patrolling with Faith, Buffy comforts Willow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally published in three parts, the first two on August 2, 2000 and the third on August 23, 2000, it has both Angelus being evil to Spike (the chapter is called Whipping Boy for a reason) and happy femmeslash.

Spike preceded his sire into his bedroom, his mind overflowing with anger, frustration, and resentment, to name just a few of the emotions whirling through him. He tried to focus on Willow and Drusilla, on the knowledge that they were safe from Angel's anger for one more night, but, at times like these, all he could think about was how much he hated his sire as much as he loved him.

In the seven months since Angel's reclamation of him, Spike had grown resigned to their sexual relationship. At times, he had even anticipated days spent in his sire's bed. Angel could be an excellent lover, and there was a side to Spike that enjoyed being dominated by the one male with the right and ability to do so.

But, Spike hated it when Angel used him as a substitute, used him to humiliate him and subjugate him. The prick was so in love with the Slayer he couldn't see straight, but in his rampages of denial he took his anger out on anyone who got in his way.

Tonight it had nearly been Willow.

Spike couldn't have taken that.

Back before he had fallen head over heels in love with the red-head, Spike had sat and watched his sire have sex with her. He'd convinced Angel that making it good for Willow would hurt Buffy more than raping her, but, still Willow had been frightened and afterwards had fallen into his arms shaking like a leaf and weeping.

Looking back on it, Spike couldn't believe he had just done nothing and let it happen.

Like he still had a hard time believing that Willow had turned willingly to Angel on that one horrible night in May. They never talked about it anymore, and she had never spoken of any details. To this day, Spike didn't know if Angel had hurt her. He had found them in the middle of her orgasm, but that didn't mean that Angel hadn't been raping her for hours.

Since Willow's horrible deal with the devil, Spike had been on edge, waiting for the day that Angel ordered Willow to his bed. Now, with the formalization of the bond, Angel had every right to take her anytime he wanted. To vampires, Willow was Spike's property, and what belonged to a vampire belonged to that vampire's sire.

Angel hadn't made a move. Tonight had been the closest he had come to demanding sex from her. Spike was pretty sure that he hadn't taken her in the past because of Buffy, but, if he was in one of his denial moods, as he was tonight, all bets were off.

Spike actively feared the day the Slayer threw her belief that Angel loved her into his face. He doubted anyone in his sire's path would survive.

The slamming of the door behind him jolted Spike out of his brood, and he turned to face his sire, his jaw set, his eyes hard, belying the storm inside him.

Angel leaned back against the door, arms crossed over his chest, anger radiating off him. "You gonna fight me, boy."

"I don't have a death wish," Spike replied, coldly. "Let's just get this over with."

"Strip."

Clenching his teeth together, Spike obeyed, folding his clothes neatly and piling them on a chair. As he turned back to his sire, a sneer crossed his face as he watched Angel uncoil a short whip.

"Something amusing you, my boy?"

"You really are like a little kid denied his favorite toy," Spike shot back. He wasn't surprised at the fist that cracked across his mouth, sending him to his knees. Blood filled his mouth and he spat, drawing in a ragged gasp of air. In a flurry of motion, Angel jerked him to his feet and smashed him face first into the wall. Spike struggled, but his head swam dizzily from the two blows and he couldn't prevent his sire from hooking manacles around his wrists and ankles, pinning him to the wall.

"Are you trying to piss me off even more?" Angel growled. "Do you want me to beat the shit out of you?"

In a sparkling moment of clarity, Spike realized he did. He wanted his sire to take his fury out on him...and not on Willow or Drusilla. "Do your best," he ground out, clenching his hands into fists as he waited for the first blow.

The crack of the whip against his naked back made him jerk and bite into his lip to hold in his cry of pain. As the blows rained down and blood slid from burning lash marks, a part of him reveled in the pain, even craved it, and slowly Spike let that side take over. Morphing, the demon opened its mouth and howled.

*****

Curled into a ball on the couch in the library, Willow jerked her head up, her face going even paler. Drusilla stopped pacing and glanced at the ceiling. Another scream sounded and Willow moaned, jumping to her feet and running for the door. The vampiress cut her off, dragging her struggling and pleading back to the couch.

"No, no, luvey, if you go to them..." Shuddering at the thought of what Angel would do to the human girl, Drusilla drew her down onto the soft cushions and cradled her close.

Willow burst into her tears and clung to Drusilla. "He's hurting, he's hurting," she moaned over and over again into the vampiress' pale neck.

Drusilla's tears slid down her cheeks to drip on the girl's head. "All my fault..."

*****

Buffy glanced over at Giles and saw that he was serving the other Watcher a cup of tea and discussing the hotel arrangements.

"So, what do you do for fun around here?"

Buffy drew her attention back to the other Slayer and felt another set a prickles run through her. It was just...unnatural that there were two of them. She had been able to handle Kendra's existence because she had been in London. They had kept in touch with the occasional letter and email, and Buffy had been truly sorry when she had learned of her sister Slayer's death, but it had been easy to ignore their sameness when the girl had been halfway around the world.

Now there was another Slayer standing in front of her, a girl with snapping brown eyes and a wicked smile, who radiated power and strength.

They were all doomed.

"Not much. We're a pretty boring little town."

Faith's eyebrows cocked. "Well, there is that whole mouth of hell thing I've been hearing about since the decision was made to send me here. It too much for you?"

Buffy bristled, then took a deep breath and forced the smile back on her face. "No, it's fine. I thought you meant fun fun, not slaying fun...not that slaying is fun."

"If it's not fun, you ain't doing it right. You up to giving me a tour of some of the slaying hot spots? I'm too wired to hit the hay."

"Um, sure." Buffy looked over at Giles and saw him nod.

The other Watcher walked over to them and addressed Faith. "I'll expect you at the hotel in two hours. We're staying at the Sunnydale Motor Lodge, rooms twenty-four and twenty-five." He tapped his forehead. "Take careful mental notes."

"Yes, Wes," Faith drawled. She slung her satchel over one shoulder and headed for the door. "You coming, B?"

"I guess that's me," Buffy muttered, grabbing her own bag and following the other Slayer. She caught up with her at the front door to the school and they stepped into the cool night air together.

"Geez, 'mental notes'." Faith rolled her eyes. "Your hunk make you recite every little blade of grass you stepped on?"

"My...hunk?"

"Yeah, your Watcher. He's a cutie. Got a nice ass."

Buffy's cheeks flamed and she nearly stumbled off the curb. "I don't think of Giles that way. He's old!"

Faith laughed. "With age comes wisdom and lots of experience in the sack."

"You and your Watcher?" Buffy choked out, shocked.

"Oh God, no! No way. Wes drives me up the wall, and, anyway, I'm pretty sure he's gay. He is kind of cute, but that stick up his butt..." She shook her head.

"Yeah, Giles has one of those, too. Maybe it's the English."

"Nah, I think it's being a Watcher. My first one was a woman," Faith's voice softened. "She was American, but she was...stiff, I guess."

"What happened to her?"

"Died. I failed," came the clipped answer from the brunette.

Buffy felt a wave of sympathy sweep over her and answered softly, "Me, too." Their eyes met for a long moment, then together they pushed open the gates to Shady Glen Cemetery and strode inside.

*****

Spike regained consciousness to find himself laying on his stomach on a soft mattress. Pain lashed through him and he groaned, trying not to move even a millimeter. The red haze in his mind finally began to fade and he heard the sound of soft whistling.

He knew that whistle.

Very slowly Spike turned his head towards the sound and saw his sire sitting in a chair, cleaning blood from the braided leather whip. He wore only his pants, and there were flecks of blood on his chest and arms--splatters.

The burning agony in his back was gradually being superceded by hunger, and Spike wondered how much blood he had lost. He could feel it still sliding down his rib cage and thighs into the bedding.

Angel looked up from the whip and grinned at the sight of Spike's glittering pain-filled eyes staring back at him. "You used to have more stamina, boy. I think your little red-head has weakened you...or maybe it's the bullets in your heart."

"Are you done with me?" Spike managed to grit out through the pain and hunger.

Angel laughed. "Well, I'm not angry anymore, you took care of that like a good boy, but I'm still horny." Setting aside the whip, he cupped himself through the leather of his pants. "I was just waiting for you to wake up. It's no fun fucking you when you're too out of it to enjoy it." Rising to his feet, he stripped of his pants and stretched, then walked over to the bed.

Spike winced as the mattress bounced at the weight of his sire kneeling on it, sending jarring pain through him. A cool tongue lashed across his shoulder blades and he hissed as it touched ragged flesh.

"Um, you still taste good," Angel murmured, then licked more blood from his childe's back, grinning at the little flinches that showed how much Spike hurt. He moved to straddle Spike's thighs, and trailed one finger down his spine to the crack between his buttocks. Lifting the finger to his mouth, he licked it clean of blood. "So much better than a minion's or even a human's. It's like drinking my own blood."

"Always knew you were a sick fucker," Spike grunted out, as his claws dug into the pillow beneath his head to keep him from bucking at the pain produced by each touch of his sire's fingers.

"Yes, I am," Angel admitted. "And, just think, I could be doing this to your precious Willow instead of you. Does she like it up the ass?" he asked, his tone conversational and light.

"Leave her alone," Spike growled, then bit his lip as his sire chuckled.

"You're too easy to tease. Are you sure you're a vampire, Spike? You've become such a fucking goodie two shoes and a big softie, too."

"Love doesn't make you soft. Try it some time."

Angel's eyes narrowed. "Don't push it, my boy."

Realizing that, at the moment, silence was the better part of valor, Spike clamped his lips together and waited for his sire to take him. Hard hands gripped his hips, jerking him to his knees, and Spike blinked his eyes against the dizziness that assailed him. Cold blood slithered into the hair at the base of his neck and he shivered.

Angel leaned over Spike, his chest rubbing against his torn back, and grinned as the blond howled uncontrollably. "Don't think I don't know why you pushed me, Spike," he murmured into his childe's ear. "You really would do anything for your bitches, wouldn't you."

"Prick."

Chuckling at the pain in Spike's voice, Angel rose back up and watched the younger male quiver, his bleeding back shaking and sending fresh blood oozing from the healing lash marks.

It was a glorious sight.

*****

Cordelia looked up from the latest Vogue to find Xander no longer watching the Fiesta Bowl. Instead, he was standing at the French doors, staring into the dark backyard. As she watched him, he took a sip from the beer bottle he held loosely between two fingers, and she wondered if her dad would notice the missing bottles when her parents returned from Aspen.

"What's wrong?" she asked softly.

Xander didn't turn from the doors, just took another sip, his shoulders sagging slightly. "I'm just wondering what's happening. Doesn't it suck being on the fringe?"

"Well, it's better than bedding a vampire," Cordelia replied a trifle caustically. "Just to be in the know is not worth all that trauma."

"Not to mention that it's totally sick," Xander muttered.

Rolling her eyes behind his back, she rose and walked over to him. "If you're not going to watch this stupid game, can we go to bed?"

He glanced down at his girlfriend and frowned. "Buffy and Giles could be dead or in Watcher custody, Willow could have been mistaken for a vamp and been staked, and you want to have sex?"

"And just how are you going to prevent any of that?"

"I can't," he snapped back, "and that really sucks."

"Yeah, it does, but standing here and staring and drinking isn't going to help anyone. Trust that they can take care of themselves, Xander."

He turned back to the darkness outside. "It's all those damn vampires' fault."

"I'm going to bed," Cordelia huffed. "You can stay down here and brood all night for all I care."

*****

"...So, you see there is some concern. Miss Summers' kill ratio has dropped in the past twelve months by nearly thirty one point six percent, yet all evidence shows that the vampire population has grown in that time at a rate of..."

"More tea?" Giles interrupted.

Wesley--as he had insisted he be called, in the one relaxed thing he had done in the past hour--gave the other Watcher a flustered look. "Ah, yes please. Earl Grey is it?" Giles nodded as he poured. "I must admit to being a bit surprised. Thought perhaps you would have gone all native and taken up that iced abomination," Wesley joked.

Giles shot him a withering glare and picked up his own cup, taking a sip. "Yes, well, Buffy does have a life outside of slaying."

"Which the Council continues to debate upon." Wesley frowned. "There are some who wish to remove her from her mother even at this late date."

Stiffening slightly, Giles shook his head. "All that would do is make Buffy rebel. Due to the failure of the Council to find her until after she was called, Buffy is different from other Slayers. It's a difference that has saved her life on numerous occasions. I have tried to make this point to the Council several times, but no one wants to listen."

"Old school, I'm afraid."

"Your Slayer doesn't appear to conform to Council standards, either."

Wesley shifted in his chair and took another sip of tea, his face flushing slightly. "Faith is a bit headstrong. That has been attributed to her American Watcher, all that personal freedom and standing up to authority business, I suppose."

"You're her second Watcher?"

"Yes. Her first, Miss Fields, a lovely woman by all accounts, even if she was American, was killed only a month after Faith was called. Faith admirably slew the fiends who committed the heinous act. I was the only Watcher of a certain age without a Slayer in training available, so I was sent to Boston to replace Miss Fields."

"Buffy's first Watcher was killed as well." Giles took another sip of tea, watching Wesley carefully.

He shifted nervously again. "Ah, yes, Merrick. The Council members were...well, they were not as sorry to see him die as they were Miss Fields."

"I know," Giles added with a slight smirk at the Council's overall pettiness. "I was in England at the time. There was much rejoicing."

Wesley straightened his spine and suit jacket. "Well, he had his enemies what with his rather...modern views."

Behind his tea cup, Giles made a face."

*****

"I don't want to leave," Willow protested, still crying, tears streaking her blotchy cheeks.

Drusilla dragged her towards the door, her own face a cold mask. "Spike will not want you here to see his pain, to see his shame."

"He has nothing to be ashamed of."

Ignoring Willow's outburst, Drusilla continued with a shudder, "And if Angel has not sated his anger...or his lust..." She pulled open the heavy door and strode steadily into the night, pulling Willow behind her by the hand.

When they reached the street, Willow gave up on trying to get away and moved up to walk next to Drusilla, their hands still entwined.

"I hate him," she muttered after several minutes of walking.

"He is what he is," Drusilla replied with a shrug. "He refuses to allow his demon to be tempered by the love he feels."

"You really think he loves Buffy?" Willow asked in a small voice.

"Most certainly."

As her vampiric companion appeared to be in one of her sane moments, Willow pressed another question. "Why is that so bad?"

"Unlike Spike or I, who are open to love, Angel refuses to accept that he can feel such a human emotion. He is in deep denial and he will take it out on all of us. I..." She faltered. "I shouldn't have mentioned it to him. I should have known he would react badly."

Turning her head slightly as they walked, Willow watched a frown cross Drusilla's face, watched her falter as confusion filled her, watched her sanity slide slowly away.

The rest of the long walk to Willow's house was accomplished in silence.

*****

Spike's buttocks quivered from pain as Angel traced the healing lash marks, then slid his thumbs into the crevice and spread the cheeks. Spike ground his teeth together, holding in his cries and biting back his anger and frustration. He felt one thumb push past the tight ring of muscles and he tried to relax.

Quickly the thumb was replaced by the thick head of his sire's cock, and, as it rubbed his dry inner walls, Spike grunted and tore his claws into the pillow. With a hard thrust, Angel sheathed himself in his childe, and grinned at the angry whimpers Spike couldn't contain.

"Hurts?"

Spike bit off a furious retort and growled uncontrollably as Angel thrust again, sending burning pain through him. After a few more hard thrusts that left him trembling and panting, he felt himself tear. His blood eased his sire's passage, but only heightened the pain and hunger.

Gripping his childe's hips in his large hands, Angel thrust hard and fast, slapping their bodies together. He felt blood coating his cock and grinned evilly, jerking Spike back against him.

The demon inside Spike fought for freedom, wanting to revel in the pain, but perversely Spike pushed it down, not wanting to get any pleasure from his sire's lust. It was a losing battle. Need managed to blossom beneath the burning pain, and he felt his cock begin to harden. He growled into the pillow in fury.

Sensing the change in his childe, Angel grinned and slid one hand around Spike's stomach. "Look what we have here," he taunted, squeezing Spike's erection. "You like that it hurts." With each slam of his own cock in the tight passage, he pumped the younger male's until unwanted groans of pleasure ground from him.

As Spike thrust back uncontrollably, driving his sire's cock deeper and only causing himself more pain, an equal pleasure flooded him as Angel expertly caressed him, building them both to orgasm.

Hissing in pleasure, Angel thrust rapidly, his hips piston-like, as he ruthlessly drove them. Spike's cock throbbed in his hand, pre-cum coating his fingers, as the younger male shook and bucked beneath him. As his orgasm hit, Angel flung his head back, howling, and thrust powerfully.

Spike shuddered, taking the hard jabs of his sire's cock releasing its cool, soothing semen. Angel's hand fell away from his childe's staff, and the older male took Spike's shoulders and lifted him up onto his knees. Still buried deeply within his childe, Angel wrapped one arm around his chest and sank his fangs into his neck.

As his sire drew on the wound, ecstasy whipped through him, and Spike watched himself come without any physical stimulation, his semen arcing into the air to fall on the blood stained bedding. Pleasure continued to lash through him, harder than the whip's blows, and he slumped helplessly against his sire, whimpering softly.

Feeling his childe submit, Angel pressed his wrist against Spike's mouth, offering his own blood. The younger male drank hungrily, his sire's rich, powerful blood filling him, even as Angel slipped his fangs free and kissed the wound until it healed.

Sated, they fell together, still joined, Spike suckling lightly at the puncture wounds in Angel's wrist, Angel running kisses over his childe's sensitive neck.

*****

"It's been an hour and a half. All I've heard from Wes for the last week is how many vampires are here. I figured we'd be tripping over them."

Buffy listened to her sister Slayer complain as they patrolled through the third cemetery without spying one vampire. "Well, they usually only come to the cemetery if they're waiting for a fledgling to rise, and there haven't been any suspicious deaths in the last couple days. When I catch one in the paper, I usually just wait at the grave."

"And that works?" Faith asked skeptically.

Buffy shrugged. "Sometimes. Usually the vamps take the bodies with them rather than risk burial. There are a few of the clans that still hold to the old traditions. You know, a vamp doesn't deserve to be a vamp if it can't claw its way out of its grave and everything."

"Clans?"

Glancing at the other Slayer, Buffy saw a puzzled look on her face. "Yeah, that's how they're organized. Clans, septs. You don't know any of this, do you?"

Faith frowned. "No. I just hunt and slay, usually one on one."

"There are a couple hundred vampire clans scattered around the world, with branches, or septs, in most big cities. Kind of like gangs. You know, the L.A. Crips and the New York Crips. Sunnydale being the Hellmouth, we have twelve actual clans here and a couple dozen septs of other clans. The most powerful clan in Sunnydale, and one of the top ten in the world, is Clan Aurelius."

Faith grabbed her arm, effectively silencing her. "Vampire, dead ahead," she whispered. Buffy shook her head slightly, puzzled, and Faith frowned in exasperation. "Don't you feel it?"

Peering into the darkness, Buffy relaxed, trying to sense the presence of the undead. As soon as she did that, she recognized the unique signature of the vampire a couple hundred yards ahead of them.

It was one of the few her slayer sense no longer tingled in the presence of.

Shit.

Beside her, Faith tensed and drew a stake from her waistband. Automatically Buffy did the same, all the while trying to figure out some way of preventing the other Slayer from attacking.

The first fucking night and this had to happen!

As the Slayers advanced silently down the path and turned down a row of crypts, a figure slipped from behind a statue of an angel and into the light of a lamp about one hundred feet in front of them.

Having seen Willow safely to her door, Drusilla had finally surrendered to the voices in her mind. Forgetting Angel's commands to stay close to home, she had wandered through the nearest cemetery, communing with the dead and introducing them to the stars.

She swayed into the pool of light, dancing to the music in her head, trying to block out the memories of Spike's screams, and saw the two girls approaching her.

"Slayer..." She cocked her head. "Two Slayers? Have you come to play?" She continued to sway, her black velvet skirt swishing against her ankles. "Daddy's angry, very angry about there being two." She put her finger to her lips and made a shushing noise. "Don't tell anyone."

"Oh good, she's nuttier than a fruitcake, this shouldn't be hard." Faith made to advance and Buffy caught her arm.

"No."

Both girls stared at the other, Faith in shock, and Buffy in fear.

Drusilla giggled and clapped her hands together. "Secrets, you have so many secrets, and I know the answers and the stars know the answers, and soon everyone will know the answers."

As Faith jerked herself free, Buffy closed her eyes briefly, then shot a command over her shoulder to Drusilla. "Get out of here, now." All that did was make Drusilla pout and Faith grow visibly angry.

"What the Hell's wrong with you?" Faith yelled, trying to shove Buffy out of the way.

Finally something rational came to the first Slayer and she hissed, "You kill her and by tomorrow night you'll be dead and this town will be in flames."

"She's just a vamp," Faith hissed back, grabbing at the hands that were gripping her shoulders.

"You don't know this town. She's not just a vamp."

"I don't like that word," Drusilla pouted. "Makes me sound slutty."

Instinctively Buffy rolled her eyes and shot back, "Yeah, well..." before her brain took back over and she shoved Faith backwards. "She's the childe of the leader of Clan Aurelius. One of his favorites. You can slay his fledglings, you can slay his minions, but don't touch his childer."

"I say you stop acting like a wimp and we do our duty and slay them all," Faith replied coldly, finally freeing herself from Buffy's grasp and stepping back.

"You don't know what you're talking about and you don't know who you're dealing with. I do. This is my town," Buffy emphasized strongly. "I work very hard to maintain the balance."

"I don't like her, Slayer," Drusilla whined petulantly. "Daddy will kill her for me."

"No, he won't," Buffy snapped, not even looking over her shoulder at the vampiress. "He understands the need to maintain the balance, as well."

"They're animals," Faith sneered. "You don't talk to animals and you don't let *these* animals live." With a hard flick of her wrist, she sent the stake flying towards Drusilla.

Before Buffy could do more than spin around, Drusilla caught the stake and crushed it between her fingers.

"I've never seen a vampire do that," Faith said, shock sending a tremor through her voice.

Drusilla drew herself up to her full height, her whole appearance becoming almost regal. She lifted her chin and glared at the two Slayers. "Take care of this problem, little Slayer, or you will lose all you cherish." Slipping from the light, she swiftly vanished behind a crypt.

Buffy slumped, shaking in reaction.

"We gotta go after her," Faith cried, reaching for Buffy's arm.

Shaking the new Slayer off with an angry gesture, Buffy turned on her. "If you had killed her..." She made a frustrated noise and stuffed her stake back into her jacket pocket. "I have to go tell *my* Watcher that you nearly threw this entire town into a war we *cannot* win. You have a lot to learn."

Faith paled at the rebuke, but kept her mouth shut, glaring at the smaller but much older Slayer. Buffy radiated not only age, but experience, and Faith wondered just what she had survived to make her seem ancient.

*****

The return trip to the Library was quick and quiet, neither slayer having anything constructive to say on the ten minute walk. They found Wesley still there, poring over Giles' journals. He looked up at their entrance.

"Ah, girls, is it that time already?" He glanced at his watch and frowned.

"Yeah, we're early," Faith grumbled.

Buffy slung her bag down on the table and plopped down in the seat next to Giles. "We ran into Drusilla."

Giles' eyes widened fractionally and he straightened his glasses. "And...?"

"And the great Slayer let the vamp live."

The scorn in Faith's voice made Buffy stiffen. "I told you, you don't know this town. You don't mess with Angel..." She caught herself and stressed, "With Angelus' childer."

"They're just vamps. Hell, I heard you took out this master guy. He was some ancient, all powerful vampire, right?"

"Yeah, and I died doing it," Buffy snapped back. "You wouldn't be here if I hadn't."

"So, if you killed him, why wouldn't you let me kill loony girl?" Faith continued, ignoring Buffy's comments.

Wesley was flipping through books. "That is a good question. You've brought down one master of Clan Aurelius, why not this one? True, I understand you once considered him an ally, when you believed he had a soul..."

"He *did* have a soul," Buffy interrupted.

"Nevertheless, he no longer has one. Have you done a study of that, Mr. Giles? What caused him to lose his soul, if he truly had one to begin with? Everything I have read about Angelus says that he is quite devious."

Buffy gritted her teeth. "I have fought him. I just haven't won."

Wesley turned to his Slayer who was slumped at the end of the table, her chin in her hands. "You say you ran into Drusilla?"

Faith nodded. "Only vamp we saw all night."

"Odd."

"Hey, I've been killing them right and left," Buffy lied.

Wesley frowned. "I've just read Mr. Giles' latest journal entries and there is only the occasional mention of you slaying a vampire."

"Yes, well, maybe they're killing each other. Challenges and such," Giles added, reaching for his current journal. "Where did you run into Drusilla?"

Buffy frowned and watched him pick up a pen. He never had her report in like this. "Restfield. She was in one of her nutso modes."

"Nutso?" the younger Watcher asked curiously. "Ah yes, I remember reading in your reports from a year ago that she was quite mentally disturbed. She and William the Bloody, Angelus' two childer, came to the Hellmouth and took over Clan Aurelius, as great-grandchilder of the Master."

"And when Angelus lost his soul, he, as their sire, stepped into that leadership.

"Wesley's eyes narrowed. "Convenient that he had already killed his own sire."

"Yeah, real convenient for me, since she was about to shoot my head off."

"Well, yes..." Giles took a steadying breath. "You did the right thing, Buffy, not fighting Drusilla."

"I must disagree, Mr. Giles."

The older Watcher's eyes hardened and he folded his hands neatly in front of himself on the table. "If either Slayer had killed Drusilla, Angelus would right now be planning to destroy this town and every human in it. Unlike the Master, Angelus has united the majority of the Clans into a loose alliance, vampire and demon alike. They only await his word to attack."

"I've seen none of this in your official reports."

"Because we have been in a holding pattern for nearly a year. We cannot win a war with Angelus. I will not allow Buffy to try. They battle on occasion, one on one, and she stakes his minions and fledglings, but he cares for his childer."

"He's a demon, Mr. Giles," Wesley snorted.

At that, Giles actually smiled, a smile that sent chills down Buffy's spine. "Ah, and that's the crux, isn't it. It's all black and white to the Council. Well, they don't live on the only active Hellmouth where everything is shades of grey."

Pursing his lips and frowning even more, the younger Watcher rose and gestured for Faith to join him. "Well, I see why we were asked to come here. Goodnight, Mr. Giles, Miss Summers. We shall see you tomorrow for training and strategy."

"I have a hair appointment," Buffy quipped.

Giles shot her a glare. "Early evening?"

Wesley nodded. "Fine. We'll see you then." He picked up his briefcase and headed for the door, Faith trailing behind him.

Buffy instantly dismissed them and didn't catch the curious look Faith gave her as she walked across the room. "I'm calling Willow then heading home."

Giles patted her hand. "Everything will be all right, Buffy."

Looking up, Buffy watched the door swing shut behind the other Slayer, and sighed. "I hope so. I could have killed Dru for showing up tonight."

Trying not to smile at the irony of his words, Giles reached for his cup of tea.

*****

Willow was laying on her bed sniffling and hugging her ancient Winnie the Pooh, when the phone rang. Wiping her sore and reddened eyes on the back of her hand, she reached for it. "Hello?"

"Hi. It's me. The new Slayer nearly killed Dru."

At Buffy's words, Willow sat up, her heart pounding. "What?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out like that. Dru's fine. In fact, she plucked the stake Faith threw right out of the air."

"She shouldn't have been anywhere near your patrol route." Worry filled the red-head. "Buffy, don't tell Angel, okay? He'll punish her, and I'm sure she didn't realize what she was doing or where she was."

"I'm surprised he let her out of his sight."

Willow sniffled again and Buffy picked up on it. "Is everything okay, Will?"

"...No."

Fear filled the Slayer and she hopped off Giles' desk. "What happened?"

Slowly, Willow sobbed out the whole sordid tale. "His screams...Oh God, Buffy, I've never heard him in pain like that. Dru finally forced me to leave with her because I kept trying to go to him. You must have run into her on her way back to the mansion."

"I'm coming right over, Will. Your parents are still gone, right?"

Willow nodded. "Yeah. Your mom, too?"

"Uh huh. Thank God for absentee parents. I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

"...K."

Buffy hung up the phone and left the office. Giles was up in the stacks and she hollered a farewell to him before grabbing her bag and heading for Willow's.

*****

Willow welcomed her best friend with a hug, tugging her into her room, and swinging the French doors shut behind them.

"I can't believe Angel did that." Buffy stopped, then a look of chagrin crossed her face. "Sorry, yes I can." She dropped onto the end of the bed. "Do you...do you think Spike will be okay?"

Willow's shoulders slumped and she sank onto her computer chair, finally whispering, "I don't know. I always fear that Angel will just kill Spike."

"I don't think he'll do that, Will."

"I hope you're right." The red-head sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, Buffy, but I really hate him."

"I know." Buffy joined her friend in sighing. "Sometimes I do, too. I'm sorry it was because of me that Spike..." She broke off and rubbed her hands over her face. "This day sucks."

"I'm sorry you ran into Dru."

"Hey, you can't control her; don't be sorry."

"Yeah, this day sucks big time."

"How come Angel chose Spike?" Buffy asked.

Willow flushed slightly, sorrow filling her eyes. "He gave Spike the option of choosing."

"Between him and Dru?"

"...Between him and Dru and me," Willow mumbled.

Buffy's eyes widened and she gasped out, "You? But..." All her confidence fled and she fell back onto the bed. "Willow, has he ever...oh fuck..."

Willow shook her head quickly. "No, this was the first time, but, Buffy...it's going to happen sometime."

"I know," the Slayer whispered sadly. "He cares absolutely nothing about me, and he'll never be faithful."

A long silence fell, then Buffy sat back up, a determined look on her face. "Fuck him. It's not like I love the asshole or anything."

Willow looked up from her own misery and frowned.

"I don't," the other girl stressed. "I came here to comfort you and here I am getting all mopey. I'm sick of being mopey."

"Me, too. Spike..." Willow swallowed hard and nodded. "Spike will survive. Hell, I know him well enough to know that he'll get some pleasure out of Angel dominating him."

"Really?"

"Yep. It's that whole sire-childe thing." She shook herself out of her depression. "You want a snack before bed?"

Buffy smiled and tugged her t-shirt over her head, leaving her in a skimpy black bra. "Yeah. A juicy Willow."

Willow turned bright red, then grinned. "Wanna forget?"

"Definitely."

Rising to her feet, Willow let the robe drop to the floor. She was naked beneath it, her skin flushed with sudden desire. "It's been a long time."

"Maybe too long," the Slayer mumbled, gaping. "You've gotten all curvy."

"I grew up." She knelt on the bed and leaned forward to brush a gentle kiss over Buffy's lips. The blonde wrapped her arms around her best friend's waist and deepened the kiss. Willow slipped her fingers into the blonde locks, massaging Buffy's nape and shoulders as their lips parted and their tongues met, first hesitantly, then more passionately.

Desire blossomed between them and they fell back onto the pillows, arms and legs wrapping around the other. As Buffy kicked off her tennis shoes, Willow found the other girl's bra clasp and unhooked it, then slid the silk from her. They turned onto their sides and the Slayer slid one jean covered knee between her friend's thighs, rubbing seductively until Willow moaned and squirmed closer.

They broke the kiss, gasping softly, and smiled at each other. Buffy wriggled out of her jeans and underwear, watching as the red-head turned onto her back and cocked one leg slightly. Propped on one hand, the blonde reached out the other hand and cupped a soft breast, her fingers teasing the nipple into prominence.

Willow reciprocated, lightly pinching Buffy's nipple until her friend gasped. Lowering her head, the Slayer danced her tongue across her friend's breasts as her hands swept down her hips and thighs. Willow continued to caress Buffy's breasts as the blonde moved between her legs, spreading them wider.

Fastening her lips around one of the red-head's nipples, the blonde girl slid the fingers of one hand into her best friend's hot, moist cleft, deftly caressing the swelling flesh and teasing the taut bundle of nerves.

Willow shifted restlessly, arching slightly into Buffy's caresses, as pleasure flowed through her. As her friend slid her mouth from one nipple to the other, she entwined her fingers in the blonde curls and moaned.

The Slayer glanced up and smiled at the look of desire on her best friend's face. As she watched, she slid two fingers into Willow's grasping passage, stroking the inner tissues. Willow arched her hips, forcing the fingers deeper, as her breath quickened.

"'Buffy..." Willow sighed, her hands stroking over the other girl's shoulders. "Oh...that feels so good."

"You're so warm," the Slayer murmured before nipping lightly at the supple flesh beneath her mouth, her fingers moving in and out of Willow's undulating body at a quick pace. "And soft." She stroked her fingers upwards and Willow bucked wildly, her back arching.

Buffy smiled. "Like that, huh?" Her thumb brushed across Willow's tingling clit, then began to circle it, eliciting whimpers from the flushed and trembling girl beneath her.

Willow's hands slid limply onto the bed, then curled into the covers, as her orgasm built rapidly. Her eyes fell shut and she arched mindlessly into Buffy's hand, as her friend stroked her in her most needy spots.

Panting filled Buffy's ears and she realized it was coming from both of them. As she caressed Willow, she realized her own desire was sending pulses of pleasure through her, and her inner thighs were slick with her own secretions. The red-head was shaking now, her body out of control, and Buffy raised up on her knees, her hand moving faster.

With a cry, Willow clenched her inner muscles around Buffy's fingers and slammed her hips up, as her orgasm hit. Waves of pleasure rolled through her and she drove herself mindlessly onto the blonde's fingers.

Grinning, Buffy watched the other girl climax, pleasure twisting across her face, her body flushing deeper, her juices coating Buffy's hand. As Willow sank down, panting for breath, the Slayer pulled her fingers free and raised them to her lips, sucking each one clean.

"See, juicy Willow," she teased.

Growling and grinning, Willow raised up and pushed Buffy down onto her hands and knees. Leaning down, she placed a gentle kiss on the Slayer's pale bottom, then nipped her. The scent of Buffy's arousal filled the air, and the red-head smiled. Scooting across the bed, she opened her night stand drawer and pulled out her newest toy.

Buffy's eyes widened at the sight of the nubby vibrator, then widened further as Willow turned it on and the head began to rotate. "Where did you get that?"

"Hanukkah gift from Cordy." As she spoke, Willow slid the vibrator between the blonde's trembling thighs and along her wet cleft. The tip bumped across her swollen clit, and Buffy yelped in pleasure.

Certain that the plastic was well lubed, Willow carefully slid it inside her friend, smiling as the girl let out a long moan as it filled her.

"Oh...fuck..." Buffy dropped forward onto her elbows and let her head fall onto the pile of pillows, as her whole body began to tingle from the vibrations stimulating her inner passage.

Willow slid the vibrator in and out at a leisurely pace, watching Buffy's hips wiggle backwards to meet each thrust. Reaching around her friend, the red-head captured one of Buffy's breasts and caressed the nipple with the palm of her hand.

Buffy arched into the hand, then back onto the vibrator, as her desire spiraled upwards. She began to pant brokenly, and perspiration covered her in a light sheen.

Quickening the pace of the thrusts, Willow brought her other hand down Buffy's stomach, feeling the muscles clench beneath her caresses. Her fingers slid into the damp curls and deeper into the heated cleft.

At the touch of a finger to her clit, the Slayer cried out and drove against the hard digit. Her climax slammed through her and she bucked and shuddered.

Willow pulled the vibrator free and continued to use her fingers to draw out her friend's orgasm.

Finally Buffy collapsed, her body trembling from release, and Willow imitated her by licking her fingers clean.

"We gotta do this more often," Buffy panted, rolling onto her side.

Nodding, Willow placed a kiss on the blonde's cheek, then rose to take her toy to the bathroom for cleaning.

*****

Faith rose slowly and stiffly from the crouched position she'd been in since Buffy had whipped her t-shirt over her head. She had watched the whole thing through a gap in the blinds. Following the other Slayer had been easy, as Buffy had seemed very preoccupied on leaving the Library. Faith had figured she would go home, but instead she had cut through a front yard and knocked on a set of French doors.

A pretty red-head had opened them. Faith could see that she'd been crying, and the two girls had embraced.

What had happened after that had both shocked and aroused the younger Slayer.

Sex was sex, in her books, but Faith knew that not everyone shared her opinion. There was nothing overt about Buffy that screamed sex or sexual orientation. In fact, if Faith had the money to wager, she would have laid odds on the older girl being a virgin.

She seemed damn uptight.

Maybe she wasn't getting laid often enough.

Though...

Faith smirked and stretched, feeling her body tingle with pleasure. That had been some performance. The two girls had obviously done that before--they were very comfortable with each others' body

Well, maybe there were more interesting things in this town besides vampires and demons after all.

Faith watched the red-head return to the bedroom and both girls slide beneath the sheets. The light went off and Faith turned to leave. The sound of a motorcycle pulling up to the curb stopped her, and she sank back against the side of the house, hidden by a tall bush.

She watched as a man climbed off the bike and walked rather stiffly towards the front door. He wore a long black coat, and the only color on him was his pale face and platinum blond hair. He let himself into the house and Faith turned back to the French doors. She could just make out the forms of the girls curled in each others arms, then the bedroom door opened and the man stepped inside.

*****

At the opening of her bedroom door, Willow jerked up, knocking Buffy's head off her shoulder. Momentary panic filled her, as she assumed her parents had returned early from their holiday trip.

She sighed in relief as Spike stepped into her room. Scrambling from the bed, she flew into his arms, then pulled back as he hissed in pain.

"Oh, God, I'm sorry. Oh, you're okay, you're okay," she babbled, reaching up and cupping his cheeks.

"I'm fine, pet. Just a bit tender." His hands slid down her back, soothing her.

Tears spilled from her eyes and Willow sank against his chest. "I was so scared."

The lamp switched on behind her and Buffy sat up, knees raised and the sheet draped across them. "I'm glad you're okay, Spike. I'll just get out of your way."

Spike's eyes went from the Slayer to the top of Willow's head which was burrowing into his chest, and he smiled lazily. "Don't leave on my account, luv."

Buffy arched an eyebrow at him, then scooted over in the bed. Spike started to back Willow towards it, then lifted her into his arms and placed her next to the Slayer. As Willow settled beneath the blankets and Buffy lay back down, Spike slowly undressed, wincing as the muscles of his sore back pulled.

Naked, he joined the girls in the bed, reclining on his side. Willow tried to look over his shoulder and he gently pushed her down. "Don't, luv. They'll be gone by morning."

"Have you fed?" she whispered in concern.

"Yeah."

Willow felt Buffy stiffen against her back.

Spike smirked. "Don't worry, Slayer. I didn't kill him, and he was a very bad man, anyway."

"Don't tease," Willow scolded.

Buffy relaxed, pressing her body against Willow's back and kissing the nape of her neck. "It's okay, Will."

The red-head carefully broached the next subject. "Did Angelus just let you leave?"

Frowning, Spike nodded. "No Angelus in our bed, remember, luv?"

"I just...I don't want him to hurt you more." Fresh tears sparkled in her eyes.

His arm slid around her hip and he pulled her gently against him. "It wasn't horrible," he admitted with a kiss to her forehead. "I've had worse."

"I'm sorry, Spike," Buffy mumbled.

"Not your fault, Slayer. He doesn't need an excuse to get pissed off." He looked down at the concerned expression on Willow's face. "But, I think it's a good idea to keep Willow out of his way until this second Slayer mess blows over."

"Yeah." Buffy turned onto her back and stared pensively at the ceiling, before reaching over and switching off the lamp. "Do you think I should go to him?"

"No, I think that would be a bad idea."

Willow nodded in agreement with Spike.

Buffy sighed sadly.

*****

Faith turned from the doors and slipped into the night, stopping to examine the well-maintained motorcycle sitting at the curb, before heading down the street.

So, was the hottie Buffy's boy or the red-head's? Looked like the red-head's, but, maybe they were a threesome.

This town was proving more and more interesting by the second.

End Trials: Whipping Boy


	3. Perchance To Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Faith has her first prophetic dream...and she's not the only one dreaming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally published in one chapter on September 19, 2000, this part is PG13 and covers the remainder of that first night of Faith's arrival in Sunnydale. Most of the couples are looked in on.

Willow dreamt of heat and pleasure twisting into pain and back again. She danced naked in the mist, her hands entwined with Buffy's and Drusilla's. Flowers dripped from their hair as they twirled around a fire. Perspiration glistened on skin marked with henna and kohl, and every movement was sensual and innocent at the same time.

Arching her neck, Willow opened her eyes and smiled at the full moon that hung low in the sky. The leather around her throat constricted slightly at the angle of her head, and she smiled wider at its presence.

Blood began to slip from beneath the leather, down over her breast to slowly bead at the tip of one puckered nipple.

From the darkness they came, two males, naked, sniffing the air. The three women stopped moving and dropped their hands, then turned as one. The males stopped prowling towards them and seemed to shrink.

"Come no farther," Buffy intoned softly.

"This is our place," Drusilla added, her voice more sane than normal.

"A woman's place," Willow said.

"We are yours," they all said together, "and you are ours, for all eternity."

Thunder clapped and the wind picked up, blowing the embers of the fire across the ground and setting the trees on fire.

Spike and Angel clasped hands and reached for the women...

...and Willow found herself floating on a raft down a lazy river, the sun beating down on her, butterflies flittering above her head...

*****

Buffy was awakened by the bed shifting beneath her. Blinking into the pre-dawn gloom with eyes accustomed to the dark, she saw Spike pulling on his clothes.

"You leaving?" she whispered.

Tugging his shirt over his head, stretching the sore muscles of his back, Spike nodded. "Yeah, gotta keep the prick placated." He saw the expression on the Slayer's face fall, and grimaced, but didn't know what to say to her about the male they both hated as much as they loved. "I just wanted to make sure Willow knew that I was okay."

Buffy sat up, tugging the blanket around herself, and glanced down at the deeply sleeping red head. "Are you? Okay?"

"Yeah, Slayer. I've had worse." He shrugged and winced. "Tell Willow I'll come to her tonight, if I can."

"Okay."

As he slipped from the room, Buffy sighed softly and drew her knees up to her chin. Willow stirred and turned onto her side, her hand brushing against Buffy's side. Buffy patted it gently, as a sweet sorrow filled her.

*****

Finding the other side of the bed as empty as it had been when she had finally given up and gone to sleep around one, Jenny frowned and reached for her robe. As she started down the steps, she saw a light coming down the hallway from the study. Walking silently, she pushed open the half-closed door, and felt her heart flutter.

Giles sat at his desk, head resting on a pile of books, eyes closed, a gentle snore issuing from him.

He looked exhausted and sweet at the same time.

As Jenny slipped into the room, he stirred and blinked his eyes open, quickly shaking off the sleep.

"What time is it?" Giles asked as he shoved his glasses up his nose and winced as his shoulder muscles screamed at him.

"Six. When did you get home?" Jenny curled up in an old leather easy chair.

"Oh...a couple of hours ago. I didn't want to disturb you, and..." He gestured to several open books.

"So, what are they like? The new Slayer and Watcher?"

"Young and exuberant, and young and stuffy." He yawned behind one hand and rubbed his aching neck with the other.

"Are they going to be a problem?"

Giles noted her concern and tried to give her a gentle smile. "Yes, but we'll survive. We always do."

Jenny rose and stepped over to him, reaching for his hand. "Come to bed, Rupert."

"I need to make sure there aren't any prophecies..."

"After some sleep. You have to keep your wits about you."

He let her tug him to his feet and they sank together, embracing tightly. "I know, luv. I know."

"You know, I love you, English."

Giles smiled and kissed her tenderly. "I love you, too."

*****

The second Slayer dreamt...

Faith walked through a cool, stone room. A fire blazed on a large hearth, and candles sat on every surface.

Curled on a leather couch was Buffy. She wore a pink lace gown, her blonde hair curled around her shoulders, and her feet were bare. She didn't look up at Faith, but spoke softly. "Why do you want to ruin everything?"

Before Faith could formulate an answer, she caught a glimpse out of the corner of her eye of a man. He was tall and dark, clothed only in leather pants that hung low on his hips. As he passed her to go to the fireplace, she saw a tattoo on his shoulder blade, but couldn't make out his features.

"If you don't adapt, you will die," he said, in a soft, deadly voice.

"Are you talking to me?" Faith asked. She lifted a hand and saw that a stake was in it. Frowning, she took a step forward, then stopped.

Buffy was gone, replaced by the red head. She wore an emerald leather mini skirt and vest. Her skin was porcelain and her eyes glittered as green as her outfit. She lifted a goblet to her lips.

Instinctively Faith knew the red liquid she was drinking wasn't wine.

Music filled the room, something full of violins and flutes, and the female vampiress from the cemetery danced into the room, an old fashioned doll in her hand.

"Daddy," she sang.

The man at the hearth turned, but Faith still couldn't see his face. Smoke began to fill the room, and suddenly a hand landed on her shoulder. She spun and found herself facing the other Slayer, now wearing jeans and a top.

"You shouldn't be here," Buffy stressed. "You shouldn't be here interfering. This is my town. I know how to take care of things."

Faith snorted and tugged her arm free as the smoke grew thicker. Behind her she could hear low growls. "Yeah, you're taking good care of things." Sarcasm rung in her voice. "Your little fuck buddy is a vampire now."

"Not yet," the blonde swore.

"Not ever," from out of the smoke an Englishman said.

"Only daddy knows, only daddy," the brunette vampiress sang.

Faith started to cough, the smoke swirling around her. "What's going on in this town, B?"

Buffy quirked a smile. "Me to know. You to never find out." She vanished, and the building vanished, leaving Faith alone atop a hill watching the sun rise.

"The dark hides us," a whisper came out of nowhere.

"The light hides us," another said.

"This is our home," murmured a third.

"You are not welcome." The scent of roses filled the air.

"All you will find here is death, little girl," came a growl from right behind her.

Faith spun around and stepped back...

...and fell...

*****

As the sun broke the horizon, Spike parked his motorcycle and headed for the front door. It opened, framing Angel in the light from the chandelier. He smirked smugly and stepped aside for the younger male to enter.

"Just couldn't leave her alone for one night, could you."

Spike slipped out of his duster as he walked into the main room. Asleep on the sofa, Drusilla lay curled in a child-like ball. "I wanted her to know I wasn't dust."

Angel snorted and reached for the vampiress, scooping her up in his arms. "Bed time, boys and girls." Spike trailed behind them up the stairs and into Angel's bedroom. As Angel stripped the clothes from Drusilla's limp body, Spike removed his own, carefully stretching the nearly healed wounds on his back.

Strong arms slipped around him from behind and a pair of lips placed several kisses along his shoulders.

"Healing nicely," Angel murmured, then licked at the nearly faded bite marks on his childe's neck. He stiffened and his arms tightened. "You smell like vanilla, like Buffy."

Spike's eyes widened and he went still at the growl from his sire. "She was there, at Willow's, on the bed," he managed to get out without stammering.

Slowly Angel relaxed and his hands slid down over Spike's flanks. "It's interesting, you smelling like her...tantalizing..."

"You like?" Spike teased softly, mentally breathing a sigh of relief.

"Are you boys playing without me?" Drusilla asked sleepily. Both males turned and looked at her, kneeling naked on the bed.

Angel gave her a wolfish grin. "You were asleep, love."

Drusilla grinned back, running her tongue across her white teeth. "I'm not asleep anymore."

Both males prowled towards the bed and pounced, making the vampiress squeal in pleasure.

*****

Cordelia awoke to lips on her cheek and neck. Rolling onto her back, she blinked open her eyes and gazed sleepily up at Xander.

"I'm a jerk."

"Yep," she agreed fully. Opening her arms, she drew her boyfriend into her embrace and an enthusiastic kiss.

*****

Wesley slept the sleep of innocence...or ignorance...

End Trials: Perchance to Dream


	4. Satisfaction Guaranteed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone has sex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally published in two chapters on September 28, 2000 and November 12, 2000 and it's rated NC17 for plenty of smut. Also Faith meets the rest of the gang plus Buffy and Willow's "boyfriends".

Buffy was sitting on the check out counter munching on an apple when Faith and her Watcher walked in. The brunette Slayer had a slight smirk on her face, and Buffy wrinkled her nose. Tossing away the apple core, she hopped off the counter.

Carrying a tray, Giles exited his office. "Tea?"

Wesley seemed surprised at the civility, but nodded and joined his fellow Watcher at the table. "I thought perhaps the girls could train before patrol. Do you have a gymnasium?"

Giles shook his head and poured them each a cup of tea. "There are mats and weapons here. No one ever comes in the Library."

Masking his surprise, Wesley took a sip of his tea.

"So, B, wanna spar?"

Buffy looked into the other Slayer's glittering eyes and narrowed her own. "Sure. Quarter staffs?"

"Sounds good."

A half hour into the sparring each girl had bruises, each had fallen, and each was covered in perspiration. All the pain did was make them more vicious.

Giles cast worrying glances their way, but Wesley seemed perfectly happy with the increasing use of dirty tactics.

Faith's pole whacked across Buffy's knuckles and her cry of pain echoed through the room, as the doors opened and Willow and Cordelia strolled inside. Cordelia's eyebrows immediately arched at the sight of the two Slayers dancing around the room hitting each other with sticks.

"Looks like fun," the cheerleader whispered. Willow giggled.

Wesley rose, his eyes wide and panicked. "I thought you said no one came in here," he hissed at Giles.

Giles rolled his eyes. "There are a few people who know about Buffy's calling."

Sitting back down, the younger Watcher gave his compatriot a narrowed look. "Yes, I recall reading that. It has caused much consternation amongst council members that anyone knows about Buffy's true identity, and that you allowed it to happen. That these civilians, as they were, actually participate in research and slaying...." He shook his head, tsking.

Giles frowned.

Seeing her friends, Buffy backed away from Faith. "That's enough."

"That was fun," was her sister Slayer's smirking reply.

Buffy frowned.

"Buffy, sweat plastered spandex, not your look."

"I hadn't planned to wear it out of here," Buffy shot back.

Cordelia just grinned, swept her eyes disparagingly over the equally sweaty Faith, then turned to admire the new Watcher. "Well, Giles, I'm surprised. Watchers *do* know how to dress."

The older Watcher sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. "And you are here why?"

Slipping her coat off and revealing her curvaceous body covered in only a dark red slinky dress, Cordelia crossed the room, trying to hide her grin. Stopping in front of Wesley, she held out her hand. "Hello, welcome to Sunnydale. I'm Cordelia Chase."

Flustered, Wesley rose and bowed slightly before taking her hand and placing a kiss on it. "Wesley Wyndham-Price, charmed," he managed to get out without stumbling over his tongue too badly.

Slowly drawing her hand away, Cordelia flipped a grin to Giles. "Hey, Giles, how come you never kissed my hand?"

"Cuz he knows how irritating you are," Buffy quipped, grabbing a towel and wiping the sweat from her face.

"Ha ha."

Buffy grinned and turned her attention to her best friend who was watching the other Slayer's movements like a hawk. Beneath the black leather jacket, Willow wore a matching leather mini skirt, black hose and ankle boots, and a teal sweater.

"You two are all dressed up. Someone having a party and I wasn't invited?"

Willow turned her attention to her best friend and smiled. "We're just Bronzing it. Xander and William are meeting us there."

"You've talked to him today?"

"He's fine. All recovered." Straightening her back, she walked over to the other Slayer who was watching everyone carefully. "I'm Willow, Buffy's best friend."

"Faith. Nice to meet you. Nice leather." Her brows furrowed slightly as something seemed familiar.

"Thanks." As Willow turned her attention to the other Watcher, Faith began to remember elements of her dream, and the redhead in leather.

Wesley smiled politely and shook Willow's hand. "Ah, yes, the computer expert."

"Polite term for hacker." Willow grinned, then looked at Giles. "Anything you need us to do?"

"No, nothing apocalyptic on the horizon. Just be careful. Everything's been very quiet, but that's usually when everything goes wrong." He sighed at the sight of Willow pointedly fingering the collar around her neck. "Yes, well, have fun, too."

"Last night before school starts? No problem, Giles," Cordelia quipped. She looked over at Buffy. "You and your new slay pal want to come along? After you shower and do something with your hair, of course."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "We have to patrol. Maybe we'll stop by later."

"Might find a vampire there." Cordelia smirked.

"Yes, quite." Giles cleared his throat and looked back at Cordelia. "You two run along and enjoy your evening."

"We'll have more fun than you," Cordelia replied with a quick grin. "It was nice to meet you, Mr. Wyndham-Price."

"Wesley, please." He seemed enthralled, and the cheerleader grinned wider.

Rolling her eyes, Willow slipped her arm through Cordelia's and dragged her away from her latest conquest. "Come on, Cordy, the guys are probably already there and I really don't want to find them tearing each other to pieces." She glanced at the new Watcher. "Um, not literally of course."

As the two girls headed out of the Library, Faith grabbed her bag and turned to Buffy. "Is there a shower around here?"

"Yeah, we can get into the gym." She picked up her own bag and led the way.

"Why don't you work out there?"

Buffy shrugged. "Might get caught, and Giles would have to lug all his books there to give him something to do."

"Watchers. They do like their musty books."

"Oh yeah."

They slipped into the darkened locker room and Buffy hit the lights. Dumping her bag on a bench, she stripped off her clothes as Faith did the same, wincing slightly at the bruises on her shoulders.

"Sorry about that," Faith apologized at the sight of the red marks.

Buffy shrugged. "It's okay. It's kind of nice to work out with an equal." She noted the purpling mark on the other girl's thigh. "I got you pretty good, too."

Naked, they both grinned at each other, linked by mutual strength and ability, then headed for the shower. As they stood under the hot spray, making use of the vanilla scented soap and shampoo Buffy carried with her, they put aside the rather vicious training session.

"So, I can see the use of a computer hacker, but what's the brunette do for you?"

Buffy choked back a laugh. "Well, she kind of stumbled into the truth about vampires, and then she started dating my other best friend, so...Basically she cheerleads."

"For real?" Faith arched an eyebrow, then ducked her soapy hair under the shower spray.

"Yep. Captain of the squad. But, she's really tough too. Drove off a vampire with a spatula and her bitchy attitude once."

Faith laughed. "Do your friends patrol with you?"

"Not very often, but they all insist on being there to help out when we face the big nasties. Without them, the world would have gone to hell a long time ago."

"Serious?" Glancing at the blonde, Faith could see that she was completely serious. "Wow. I doubt any of my friends would be any help, even if Wes would allow it."

"Well, Giles never had much of a choice." Buffy grinned. "Willow proved her worth almost immediately after she discovered the truth about Sunnydale and me, using the computer to hack into the plans for the city's underground tunnels."

"She's pretty. She's got a boyfriend?"

Buffy winced as she loofahed her sore shoulders. "Hm? Oh, yeah, well he's not really a boy. He's, y'know, an adult, but they've been dating for nearly a year."

"What about you? You have a boytoy?"

Buffy nearly choked on the water in her face as she pictured Angel's reaction to being called that. "I have a...there's a guy, yeah."

"Cool."

Turning off the water, Buffy grabbed a towel and exited the shower ahead of Faith, wondering just what she was supposed to call Angel since the Watchers Council knew about Angel's change into Angelus. Why couldn't he have a boring name like Bob?

*****

The Bronze wasn't very crowded. School resumed the next day, and most teenagers had parents around to actually care about them getting good nights' sleeps. Willow and Cordelia swept their eyes over the mix of teenagers and locals--the college students not back in town yet--and mutually sighed at the sight of Spike on one side of the club and Xander on the other.

Both males were glowering at each other.

Both girls looked at each other, then split up.

Willow flew into Spike's arms, careful not to touch his back.

"You can hug me, luv. I'm all healed."

She tightened her grip. "I'm so glad. I know you told me when you phoned this afternoon, but you lie so well." She grinned up at him and found herself hungrily kissed.

"Tonight, we go straight to your place."

"Uh huh." A tingle of desire blossomed in the pit of her stomach and she grinned wickedly up at him.

"So, did you meet the new Slayer?" Spike asked as he wrapped one arm around her waist and guided her towards their usual corner.

"Yeah. She's..." Willow shrugged and leaned against him. "She and Buffy were sparring. They seem pretty evenly matched."

"Typical Slayer strength, then."

"Yeah."

"I still can't believe she nearly killed Dru," Spike growled softly, remembering Willow's cautious recitation of the events of the night before.

"By the time Dru got me home, she was really losing it. She probably forgot she was supposed to avoid Faith. Does Angel know yet?"

"He'll never know, if I can help it," Spike promised. They reached the couches and sat down on the one opposite Cordelia and Xander.

"The new Watcher's kind of cute, in a stuffy British way," Cordelia teased. "And someone taught him to dress."

Xander scowled and Spike chortled.

"Behave," Willow murmured, lightly smacking Spike's wrist.

"Impossible," he murmured back, nipping her ear lobe.

"Oh gross!"

*****

After two hours of patrolling without finding one vampire, Buffy was beginning to wonder if Angel, in a fit of rage, had killed them all. Faith was antsy, nearly bouncing out of her skin.

"This is fucking insane. I thought this place was supposed to be nearly overrun with vamps."

"Maybe it's a religious holiday." Buffy shrugged and frowned as they exited the fourth cemetery of the evening. "Come on, the Bronze is just a couple blocks away. Vampires sometimes hang out there. It's the club where all the teenagers go."

"I could use a cup of coffee," Faith said in agreement. "I didn't realize it got cold in southern California."

"We even had snow on Christmas and New Year's Day. Well, it flurried and melted as soon as it hit the ground."

"It's easy to track vamps through snow, but then with the sun here you probably don't have as many overcast days for them to be out roaming around in, so I guess it all balances out."

*****

Wesley took a deep breath and set down his empty cup. "Your Slayer appears to be well trained, in the staff, at least."

Giles bristled, but kept his control. "Perhaps tomorrow we should patrol with them and you can see Buffy in action."

"P--patrol?" The younger Watcher appeared startled. "I don't actually patrol with Faith. Of course, Boston only contains the ordinary kind of vampires."

Smirking slightly, Giles leaned back in his chair. "You won't find ordinary here. I try to patrol with Buffy at least once a week, depending on what kind of supernatural crises we have going on here."

"To be perfectly honest, I thought you were exaggerating the extent of your involvement in her patrolling when I read your journal entries."

Giles smirked some more, but his smirk turned to a frown at the younger Watcher's next words.

"Slayers should be trusted to patrol on their own, to do their duty and slay and report back. We are here to train and prepare, not to pamper."

Beneath the table, Giles snapped a pencil between two clenched fingers.

*****

On entering the Bronze, Buffy let the music wash over her and expanded her senses. One vampire blinked on her radar and she grinned at the sight of Spike slow dancing with Willow to a hard pounding rock beat that every one else on the dance floor was gyrating to.

"Do you sense any vampires?" Faith asked, her brow furrowing. "I'm still surprised that I felt that one last night. I never have before. Wes says it takes work and time to hone that skill."

"None here, but we can hang for a bit, see if any show. And, yeah, it took me about nine months or so to be able to sense them. Demons are so much easier, you know, because of the tendency to have horns and green skin and slime."

They headed for the bar and ordered coffee. Faith turned away from the bar as she waited for her cappuccino to be prepared, and caught sight of Willow almost making love on the dance floor to the guy from the night before. "Your friend's boyfriend's a hottie."

"Hm? Oh, yeah."

Faith smirked and picked up her coffee. The two Slayers joined Cordelia and Xander, taking two of the easy chairs as the pair were cuddling on one couch, and the other couch was draped in leather.

"Hi, Xander Harris," Xander introduced himself.

"Faith." She ran her eyes appreciatively over the rather mussy looking young man, noting the strength in his wiry body and the determination in his friendly brown eyes.

Cordelia noticed the interest and wrapped her hand around Xander's bicep. "And, I'm Cordelia."

"Yeah, so Buffy said. The cheerleader."

Cordelia's eyes darkened. "Among other things."

"And what do you do, Xander?" Faith turned her attention fully on the boy.

"Gopher," he replied cheerfully, hugging Cordelia against his side as he sensed her jealous anger. "I'm really good at donut fetching."

"He's slain his share of vampires," Buffy replied. "All my friends have."

Xander grinned at her, silently thanking her for bolstering his ego. "And I'm weapon carrying guy. Fetched a rocket launcher once, that was fun."

"Picking up pieces of blue demon guy was *not* fun," Cordelia recalled.

"Clean up guy, I do that well, too."

Cordelia smacked his arm.

The music changed and Willow smiled happily up at Spike, seeing the desire in his eyes and feeling a shiver go through her body. The night before had been sweet and pleasurable with Buffy, but she and Spike had planned to be together.

It was getting to the point that neither of them liked spending a night apart.

Together they walked off the dance floor towards the group in the corner, and, as they neared them, Willow asked sweetly, "Can you get me a cup of hot chocolate?"

"Extra whipped cream?" Spike smiled at the pleasure that knowing her little desires and idiosyncrasies brought him.

"Uh huh."

Brushing his lips across her cheek, Spike headed for the bar as Willow plopped down on his leather duster. "Everyone making friends?"

"Yep," Faith said, sipping her coffee. She jerked her head towards Spike. "He's cute. Not in high school, right?"

"Uh, no, William's a bit older than me. He's English."

"Nice..."

"Not particularly," Xander muttered, only to sink into his seat at the glare from his girlfriend.

Faith tucked that away in her memory. "So, how'd you meet him?"

Willow's mind went blank for a moment, then she smiled hesitantly. "He saw me dancing here one night. I guess I piqued his interest."

Spike placed his order, a slight smile on his face that vanished as a tingle of recognition ran through him. Turning slowly he scowled into his sire's grinning countenance.

"Ah, isn't that sweet, fetching cocoa for your little human."

Eyes flashing yellow, Spike growled so softly that only another vampire could hear. "Don't push it, Angelus. The other Slayer is here."

"You think I don't know that?" Angel scoffed. "She stands out like a beacon, like my Buffy."

Spike managed not to grin at the possessive term for the blonde Slayer. "And you're here why?"

"Bored." The older male slid his eyes across the crowd, avoiding the corner in which he knew Buffy sat. "Drusilla's locked herself in the bathroom 'pampering' herself for some unfathomable reason."

"So, you're here to pick up a sweet young thing?"

Angel frowned at the sarcasm in his childe's voice. "I'm here because it's either the Bronze of Willies, and the ladies are much more succulent here."

"Not to mention that Buffy hangs out here."

"Don't *you* push it, Spike."

"William."

Angel snorted, then frowned even deeper. "Hell. The fucking Watchers know about Angel and Angelus."

"And whose fault is it you have such an odd name for a white boy?" Spike chuckled and picked up Willow's mug. "We could call you Myron. You look like a Myron."

Angel's growl only made Spike grin wider. "I guess I can use my real name."

Those words and the disgusted tone in which they were spit out wiped the grin off the younger male's face. "Real name? You mean it's not Angelus?"

"No. My sister called me her Angel and Darla thought that was cute. The Master decided I needed something more regal."

"So, what's your real name."

Eyes narrowing, Angel bit out, "Liam."

Spike blinked, once, twice, then burst out laughing. "Billy, you're a Billy, too!"

"I suggest you stop laughing, if you want to keep your teeth."

The threat had no bite and Spike continued to chuckle over the knowledge that essentially they shared the same name.

Angel stalked off towards the Scooby Gang's corner, Spike trailing behind him.

As a familiar presence hit her, Buffy paled and looked up from her coffee. Angel slipped through the crowd, a slight scowl on his face. Spike passed him and joined Willow on the couch, handing her the cup.

Faith looked from one hunk to the other and felt a tingle run through her. As her eyes lingered on the dark, brooding one, she registered the quiet that fell over the group. Buffy rose and walked past her, a smile plastered on her face.

"Honey, I didn't expect to see you tonight," Buffy said, as she leaned up and placed a kiss on Angel's cheek.

Angel's smile didn't reach his eyes as he slipped an arm around her waist and turned her.

Stiffening, Xander rose, tugging Cordelia with him. "Let's dance, Cor."

"Was it something I said?" Angel smirked as they passed him.

Faith's eyes traveled over the remaining group. Buffy was uncomfortable, and Willow was stiff and pale. The blond hunk was staring at the other guy, who was trying to project that he was oblivious to the tension.

But, he was enjoying it.

Rising to her feet, Faith took a few steps forward and put her hands on her hips. "I'm Faith. You Buffy's guy?"

"Buffy's guy?" Angel grinned wickedly. "I think you could say that. I'm Liam."

Buffy's eyes widened slightly and Faith noted that too.

"Can we dance, Liam?" Buffy asked, a tiny hint of desperation in her voice.

"In a minute, sweetheart. I haven't seen Willow in what seems like ages."

"It was last night," Willow replied cooly.

"So it was. You look much more composed." With a slight bow to her, he swung Buffy onto the dance floor.

Willow drew in a shaky breath and sank against Spike.

"Is he always that weird?" Faith asked the couple behind her as she watched her sister Slayer in the tight embrace of her boyfriend.

Spike snorted softly.

"We uh...we don't really get along with him," Willow finally answered, rather lamely.

"B seems to." Faith turned and took in the pale panic of the girl and the pale serenity of the man--a serenity marred by blazing eyes and a death grip on his girlfriend's hand.

And knew that something big was going on...

*****

"Liam?"

At Buffy's puzzled question, Angel raised his head from her breasts and looked down at her frowning face.

"That was two hours ago. You're just asking me now?" he growled, then dipped his head back down, his lips feasting on her erect nipples.

They had danced in silence for nearly an hour, then made their excuses and left, acutely aware of the younger Slayer's eyes on them the whole time.

Faith had taken Buffy aside briefly, asking her if any vampires were in attendance. Buffy had said 'no' and told the other girl she'd see her the next evening, before latching onto Angel's arm and dragging him through the crowd.

They had gone straight to Buffy's where Angel had made quick work of their clothes. Within five minutes, the blonde was experiencing her first orgasm.

She'd quickly lost count as Angel made love to her over and over.

"Where'd you get 'Liam' from?" she asked again, still interested, though his mouth was sending new and delightful bolts of pleasure through her languid body.

Rolling his eyes, Angel shoved himself up to glower down on her. "It's my real name, okay? Can we drop this?" Rocking his hips forward, he pressed his hard cock against her stomach, making her inner muscles clench in anticipation.

Buffy reached up and slipped her hands around his neck, tugging his mouth down to hers for a searing kiss. "I like it," she whispered against his lips, then turned his head and licked her way up to his ear. She grinned at the rumble in his throat as she passed over the sensitive artery. "Can I call you that now? It's much more classy than Angel. People probably picture Angel as some gangbanger from the 'hood." She nipped his earlobe."

"Gangbang, now that's a word I like," Angel growled lustily, rocking harder against her, as her legs crept up to slide around his waist. As they kissed again, Buffy slipped one hand between them and lightly grasped the tip of his cock, guiding it down her slick cleft to her tingling entrance.

"Again," she begged softly, arching against him and driving him inside her.

"Nympho," he groaned, squeezing his eyes shut in pleasure as her vaginal muscles sucked at his throbbing cock and drew it all the way inside her.

*****

Willow undressed Spike completely, then walked around him to gaze at his back in the light of several candles in her bedroom. She frowned, and gently brushed her fingers over the few red marks that remained.

"I hate him."

"Luv, he's not worth it." Spike turned and drew her into his arms, smiling down at her scowling countenance.

"He did it to punish you, not for your pleasure. You're always telling me that you don't want me to cross that line. Why is it okay for him to?"

"That's different."

"Why?" she persisted.

Spike sighed heavily. "Because I'm a vampire and a man."

"Don't you dare use that lame, chauvinistic excuse with me." Willow reached around him and grabbed his buttocks, squeezing as hard as she could and digging in her fingernails, as she scowled harder.

"Ow!"

Smirking, she wriggled against his burgeoning erection. "Baby."

Leaning forward, she flicked her tongue against one nipple and felt it harden. "You like pain," she murmured.

Spike slipped one hand up beneath her hair to catch the nape of her neck and pulled her head back. "So do you," he said through a lusty, wicked smile. He kissed her lips hard, bruising the soft flesh against her teeth and driving his tongue in to tangle with hers.

Willow moaned as pleasure flooded her, sending liquid heat through her veins and straight to her core. She trembled and Spike pulled back. Spinning her around, he caught her wrists and pulled them behind her back, crossing them loosely against her bottom.

"Stay."

Trembling harder in anticipation, she obeyed, and listened as he moved around behind her, opening her closet where most of her toys were kept. At the feel of soft silk cords winding around her wrists, she smiled, and felt her heart rate increase as her desire built slowly from deep inside her.

After tying her wrists securely, Spike knelt and removed one boot, then the next, before reaching up and unzipping her skirt. The soft leather pooled around her ankles and he guided her out of it, leaving her in black stockings attached to a pale pink garter belt, matching panties and a cropped, button front sweater.

He grinned when he saw the panties had gone on last, over the garter belt.

She had learned.

Rising back to his feet, Spike nudged Willow forward until they reached the bed. He turned her around and grinned at the dazed lust in her eyes. Nimbly he unbuttoned her sweater. She had taken to wearing a bra when they went out in public, as in the year they'd been together her breasts had filled out nicely.

But, all her bras matched her panties, and this one was a soft pink silk edged with lace.

He flicked the front clasp open and tugged the cups away, letting her creamy breasts spill free.

Willow started to breathe harder and unconsciously licked her lips.

Turning her back around, Spike murmured, "Kneel."

Willow obeyed, kneeling on the end of her bed, and then moaned softly as his hand in the middle of her back pushed her down until her head touched the mattress.

*****

"I didn't like the looks that new Slayer was giving you," Cordelia snapped as soon as she and Xander left the Bronze.

Xander shrugged as if to say 'what am I supposed to do about it'.

Eyes narrowing in anger, Cordelia tightened her grip around her boyfriend's arm and stomped towards her car at a fast clip.

"Cordy..."

"Stow it."

Rolling his eyes, Xander clapped his lips shut and let her pull him down the street. Inside, he reveled at her jealousy and felt a tingle of desire spread through him as he began to picture his fate.

It had been a couple weeks since he'd been over her lap, her hairbrush raining down on his naked butt.

Reaching the car, Cordelia glanced quickly around, then unlocked the door and climbed into the back seat, pulling Xander in with her. As he hunched on his knees between her spread legs and closed the door, Cordelia scooted backwards until she was propped against the rear window.

"Um, Cordy honey, this is a bit cramped."

"Eat me, and I mean it," she snarled, her hand grabbing her skirt and pulling it up revealing a barely there black lace thong.

Swallowing hard as desire charged through him, Xander quickly took stock of the situation. He was already getting a crick in his neck and one leg was going numb, but he knew better than to disobey when his girlfriend was this pissed off.

Sliding one knee to the floor, he caught one of her legs and pressed it up onto the back of the seat, as she splayed the other one so that her knee rubbed his hip. Xander took a deep breath and bent nearly double, then ran his tongue over the damp silk.

A shudder of pleasure ran through Cordelia and she closed her eyes, one of her hands caressing her breasts through the spandex.

Using one finger, Xander pulled the thong aside enough to bare her hot, dampening flesh to his lips. He kissed and sucked eagerly, hoping to make her come as quickly as possible before he got stuck in this position.

It didn't help that just the idea of being forced to do this had made his cock as hard as marble.

*****

After a leisurely and boring stroll through the two cemeteries between the club and her motel, Faith locked the door behind her and stripped off her clothes on the way to the bathroom.

Not that she'd worked up a sweat, but maybe a shower would relax her. She was jumping out of her skin. It had been four days since she'd slain anything. That just wasn't natural.

Turning on the shower, Faith grabbed a brush and ran it through her hair, tugging mercilessly on the tangles, as her mind went over the evening's activities. The Bronze was a pretty cool club for a dinky little town, though they actually carded for booze, which sucked.

As she stepped under the hot spray of water, Faith turned her attention to the people she had met.

The cheerleader, there was strength in that one, once you looked past the bitchy attitude. She hadn't been pleased about Faith's flirting with her boyfriend either.

Harris, he definitely was not the kind of guy you'd expect to see dating the head cheerleader. He was basically the exact opposite of Cordelia Chase. Maybe opposites really did attract. There was a spine of steel in him, as well.

Faith wondered if it was due to growing up on a Hellmouth, or maybe because they knew the truth about the boogie man.

Dipping her head beneath the spray, the younger Slayer mulled over that. Ordinary humans fighting and slaying vamps... Hell, she rarely could get Wes to go patrolling with her. She'd never actually seen him lift a stake.

Reaching for the shampoo, Faith let her mind wander to the red head and her boyfriend. Now, there was a luscious bit of man. She usually liked her guys big and strong, but, William's wiry body looked like it was all muscle. And, he was English, which was just too cool.

Not to mention the whole accepting his girlfriend has a girlfriend thing.

Willow was interesting, too. It was all too easy to see the intelligence in her and, in Faith's experience, intelligence meant nerdy--look at Wesley and even Buffy's Watcher--but on the exterior Willow was pretty and sexy and bold.

The most interesting thing about her, though, was just how very much she hated Buffy's boyfriend.

Xander and Cordelia were very uncomfortable around Liam, William seemed pretty easy-going--although his eyes had hardened at Liam's attention towards the red head--but Willow actively hated him.

And Buffy was head over heels.

Faith was very good at reading people, but she couldn't read Liam. There was something very wicked in his eyes, like he got off on knowing that he made people uncomfortable. Buffy's whole demeanor had changed when she'd seen him. She'd almost panicked.

The couple hadn't left the dance floor until they'd come over to the group to say goodbye. His arm had been around Buffy's shoulders in a very possessive grip.

And the smile on her face had been totally false. She'd been nervous and eager to leave. Her eyes had been full of sadness and she'd been unable to look at Willow.

Faith knew those signs, she just didn't want to believe them.

How could a Slayer get herself into an abusive relationship?

Sighing heavily, Faith finished washing her hair and picked up a soft sponge and her bath gel. As she began to run the sponge over her body, she forced her mind away from Buffy. Unfortunately, as soon as she stopped thinking, she got all tense again.

Passing the sponge over one of her breasts, she sighed softly as pleasure sparked deep inside her. Faith leaned back against the side of the shower and trailed her hand down between her legs.

*****

Giles felt the ever present headache begin to fade as Jenny massaged his shoulders. He lay on his stomach on his bed, naked, his eyes closed, his arms stretched out loosely over his head. Jenny straddled his hips, gently rubbing the tension away. Sandalwood oil covered her hands, and the room was warmly lit with candles. Soft music filled the air.

"Feeling better?" she murmured into his ear as she ran her hands down his arms to his wrists and back up to his shoulders.

"Um."

She smiled. "Is that a yes or a no?"

"Oh yes," he groaned softly, letting his body relax.

Giving his shoulders one final squeeze, Jenny slipped from the bed and padded into the bathroom to wash the remaining oil from her hands. Slipping off her robe, leaving her body nude and eager, she returned to the bedroom and found Giles on his side, smiling at her.

"Are you planning to have your wicked way with me?"

"Oh yes."

"I think I can handle that."

Pushing him onto his back, Jenny straddled him again, and leaned down to kiss him hungrily. "Are you sure about that, English?" she teased as he gasped for air.

Giles grasped her hips and rocked her against his growing erection until she moaned and shivered. "Are you?"

"Oh...yes," Jenny whimpered as he tugged her head down for another kiss.

*****

The lights were off, the room lit only by the glow of a computer screen. Wesley typed with one hand--something he had grown quite proficient at doing since leaving the comforts of home and hearth in England for the wilds of the American Eastern--and now Western--seaboard.

'Watcherboy bends over the desk,' he typed, then felt a thrill go through him as his current cybersex partner responded.

'Leathermate frees hard cock from leather pants and shoves Watcherboy's legs apart'.

A shiver running over his skin, Wesley quickly typed, 'Watcherboy shivers in anticipation and rubs his prick against the desk.' As he waited for the reply, his free hand continued to stroke his erection, bringing himself closer to climax with every new message.

End Trials: Satisfaction Guaranteed


	5. Interludes & Preludes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A couple weeks pass and Buffy's birthday approaches.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally published in two chapters on December 31, 2000 and January 21, 2001 and the first chapter I considered "filler" with a "sorry for the shortness" note at the end as the big plot begins in the second part. Still, I must have felt these two went together. Rated PG13 for sexual tension.

"Catch," Buffy shouted as she tossed her spare stake to Faith, who caught it deftly and just in time to shove it through the heart of the charging linebacker cum vampire.

"Thanks, girlfriend." Seeing that Buffy had a female vampire well in hand, Faith took off after the final male.

They had been patrolling for nearly an hour, their Watchers accompanying them and severely crimping their girl talk. Faith had hoped to get Buffy to admit the truth about her boyfriend, but she couldn't do it in front of the old guys.

Buffy had spent the whole hour hoping they didn't run into anyone important.

Instead, they'd stumbled upon a motley crew of vampires waiting for a fledgling to arise. While the Watchers had done their job, the two Slayers had made short work of the half dozen vampires. Giles had stood by with crossbow loaded, while Wesley had ducked behind a large tombstone and scribbled notes.

As Faith staked the last surviving vampire, Buffy rose from the disturbed ground of the grave, dusting off her hands.

"Huh, maybe they were all hung over from New Years until tonight." Privately Buffy had a feelign that Angel had sent these vampires to their deaths. The night before, in between bouts of lovemaking, she'd mentioned that Faith was getting antsy with nothing to fight.

A big smile on her face, Faith strolled back to the group. "Now, that's more like it."

"That's more typical than recent nights," Giles replied, putting the safety on the crossbow.

Closing his notebook, Wesley straightened his spine and stepped from behind the tombstone. "Yes, very good, though, Faith, you should always carry a spare stake."

"Yes, Wesley." Faith turned her back to him and stuck her finger into her mouth, making gagging motions and causing Buffy to swallow a laugh.

"Shall we move along to Restfield Cemetery?" Giles asked, hiding his smile as he shouldered his bag.

Buffy stuck her stake back up her sleeve and glanced at her watch. "I have to be home in forty-five minutes. Mom's home."

"Curfew must suck."

The blonde Slayer nodded to the brunette.

Wesley made another quick note as they headed for the exit to Memorial Gardens.

In Restfield, they discovered a small contingent of sword bearing vampires, which sent the Watchers back to the Library to research what would become the attempted return to power of a minor demon named Balthazar.

*****

Two weeks passed. Buffy and Faith worked out togehter after school, patrolled in the evenings, and hit the Bronze most nights. They defeated Balthazar, stopped the Sisters of Ghe from opening the Hellmouth, and slew dozens of ordinary vampires.

Giles learned to appreciate Wesley's research skills--although the man was a pathetic fighter and a rather sad coward. He was young, though, and Giles began to hope that he would turn into something much more than he was.

Nevertheless, the older Watcher kept his guard up, remaining vigilent. He knew that Wesley was reporting everything he and Buffy did and more importantly, what they didn't do. Wesley continued to remain unhappy that Buffy had a life and friends and family outside of slaying.

Although Willow helped out on research when the big crises were at hand, none of the Slayerettes patrolled. Even though Wesley knew that they had done so in the past, Giles saw no reason to remind him of that fact. With two Slayers, there was no need for any of the normal humans to go on routine patrol.

And, both Angel and Spike had kept their distance. Giles was aware that they sometimes met the girls at the Bronze, but so far Faith had not developed the senses to detect vampires, and Wesley--who might have physical descriptions of the master of Sunnydale and his second--had yet to see them.

Drusilla also had kept hidden.

So, things pretty much returned to normal.

And that's always when things went wrong...

*****

Sitting at her desk, Willow jotted down key points from her poli sci book, all the while attempting to ignore the vampire pacing around behind her. Occasionally he interjected something into the silence.

"It's too quiet."

"Uh huh."

More pacing.

"That usually means something big's coming."

"It's not totally quite," Willow argued. "Buffy's been slaying vampires nightly."

Spike made a scoffing noise. "Idiot fledglings and minions Angel's pissed at."

The pacing resumed.

"You're going to wear a hole in my carpet. I don't think my parents will understand my vampire boyfriend doing that."

"Everyone's relaxing too much around the new Watcher and Slayer. Becoming buddies," Spike sneered.

"Making friends is a good thing, Spike. People are less likely to kill friends."

"Not in my circle."

Willow rolled her eyes and set down her pen, turning to face her lover. "We're still on our toes."

"Sinking fast" Spike flopped on his back on the bed, arms spread wide. "We should have just killed them."

"And the Council would have sent new ones. Maybe even punished Buffy and Giles. And I kind of like Faith."

"She's got a right wicked streak of darkness in her," Spike mused.

"I meant she's fun to be around."

"Angelus wants to do her."

Willow made a face. "Kill or 'do'."

"Both probably." Sighing, Spike sat up enough to reach out and snag Willow's hand, tugging her down beside him. "He's a sick bastard."

"Maybe she'd kill him." Willow grinned a bit hopefully and slid on top of him.

"Now, there's a thought," he murmured before her lips descended on his.

*****

"So, you turn the big one eight in three days."

From her position on top of a headstone, Buffy looked over at Faith who was leaning against a crypt. "Yep. Get to vote. Like I care between one idiot and another."

"You can join the army."

Buffy snorted.

"You having a party, a big blow out?" Faith asked.

The smile slid from Buffy's face and she shook her head. "I don't do well with birthdays. My sweet sixteenth was in the middle of my parents' divorce, and last year..."

"Oh...yeah. I read the report, what little there was. Giles was way short and to the point."

Buffy sighed heavily and began to play with her favorite stake. "It's certainly not a big secret. Angel and I had sex, his soul went away, and..."

"Yeah, but you've got Liam and everything."

"It's not the same."

"First love, huh?" the brunette Slayer asked curiously.

"Yeah. You ever been in love, Faith?"

"Nah. Love 'em, or rather, fuck 'em and leave 'em with fond memories, that's more my style."

"There are benefits to that method, too."

Faith grinned. "Do tell, girlfriend."

Buffy glanced at her watch. "Sadly, I have a crystal gazing at appointment with Wesley."

"That's weird that Giles isn't doing it with you."

Shrugging, Buffy hopped off the headstone. "I guess Wesley wants to observe me himself or something. It's fine by me, anything to show that there's no problem here."

"Well, you can tell him I'm still patrolling. Think I'll swing by the Bronze, patrol there a while."

The two Slayers parted with a grin.

*****

"Your objections have been noted, Mr. Giles. There's no need to reiterate them each night."

"I'll reiterate them till the bloody cows come home. This is a barbaric custom that serves..."

Wesley interrupted Giles loudly spoken argument. "All we have is custom and tradition, Mr. Giles. They have worked perfectly well for nigh on two millennia."

"This particular one has seen the deaths of dozens, probably hundreds of Slayers."

Pursing his lips, Wesley watched his companion turning an angry shade of red, and shook his head slightly. "Remember your temper, Mr. Giles. The procedure has already been set in motion. Mr. Travers will be here tonight with the merchandise..."

A harsh bark of laughter erupted from Giles. "Merchandise. That's priceless. Buffy has proven herself over and over again..."

"Not to the Council's satisfaction." A coldness crept into Wesley's voice that made Giles narrow his eyes and tighten his hands into fists. "This will all be over in a few days. If Miss Summers is as good as you say she is, she will be fine."

"If she dies, I'll kill you myself."

The confidence disappeared from Wesley's face and he took several steps backwards. "Control yourself, Mr. Giles, please."

"Go to Hell, Wyndam-Price." Grabbing his jacket, Giles stormed out of the Library, brushing past Buffy without a word.

"Hi to you too, Giles," she called after him, frowning at the anger that radiated from him. Glancing into the room, she saw Wesley mopping his forehead, and shrugged, figuring that the younger Watcher had simply done something to piss off the older.

"I'm here for the crystal thingie."

"Ah...yes." Regaining control, Wesley gestured for her to join him at the table.

*****

Faith was dancing fast and furiously when she felt something brush her mind, something...different. Stopping, she turned, looking around the crowded club. The odd feeling dissipated, and, shrugging it off, she headed for the bar. Leaning against it, watching her, was Liam. He was dressed all in black from leather pants to silk shirt, and was gazing at her from beneath hooded, decadently long lashed eyes.

"Hey."

"Hello, Faith."

"Bottle of water," she ordered the bartender, as she dug into the pockets of her tight jeans for change.

"On me," Angel replied, placing a couple dollar bills on the bar.

"Thanks." She took her water, opened it and drank deeply. Slowly it sank in that Buffy's boyfriend's eyes were on her throat, watching the water go down, and she set the bottle aside. "Buffy had to go back to the Library."

"I'm not looking for Buffy." He shifted and was suddenly much closer to her. Faith felt a flutter run along her nervous system, but forced her eyes to meet his.

"What do you want then?"

He grinned, his lips spreading wide, baring very white teeth. "A dance?"

Faith knew he was lying, but she decided to play along, nodding and proceeding him onto the dance floor. A slow song was playing and couples were moving entwined to the music. Angel took her shoulder, turning her into his arms, his hands sliding down to rest low on the small of her back. Faith caught his upper arms, feeling the strength beneath the silk. He pulled her closer and she could feel the bulge in his jeans rub against her own crotch.

"You cheat on Buffy a lot?" she sneered.

"We have an understanding."

"Bull shit."

His eyebrows arched and he yanked her tighter against his body as they moved to the music. "She understands that I do anything I want."

"You hit her, don't you, you piece of shit." Faith's eyes blazed with anger as she dug her fingernails into his arms.

A matching anger rolled through Angel and he tightened his arms around her, enjoying the pounding of her heart against his chest. His eyes narrowed and he leaned down to murmur, "Watch yourself, little girl. I'm the big bad wolf."

"I ain't no fucking red riding hood." Unable to pull free of his arms, Faith brought the heel of her boot down hard on his instep. The pain that raced up his leg made him jerk away from her and Faith danced backwards.

"I'm still going to eat you," Angel growled, before turning and disappearing into the crowd.

Faith frowned, uneasy and disturbed. Sexual advances usually didn't bother her, even from her girlfriends' guys. But, there was something else going on here.

Something that sent a weird chill through her.

*****

Entering his apartment Giles tossed his jacket down on a chair and went straight for the bottle of scotch. As he poured the first glass down his throat, a soft voice came from the kitchen.

"Are you going to tell me what's been bothering you the last few days?" Jenny asked, wiping her wet hands on a towel.

Giving her a bleak look, Giles poured another glass and slumped down into an easy chair to sip the fiery liquid. "Council business," he finally muttered.

"And since when have you kept that from me?" She came farther into the room and dropped to her knees next to him. One gentle hand on his knee made him meet her soft gaze. "Rupert, talk to me. If it's bad, we need to be prepared, all of us."

"I...can't tell you, Jenny," he replied, his voice strangled. "They'll remove me as her Watcher and where will that leave her?"

Jenny shook her head sadly and stroked his knee. "Then, if you can't tell me, can you put it behind you? The tension is killing you, Rupert."

'I don't know," he finally mumbled, taking her hand in his and squeezing gently. "It's stupid and it's bad and...I don't know what's going to happen."

"We'll survive. We always do."

Giles tried to smile a bit blearily. "Why are you so optimistic?"

Jenny smiled back and reached up to take the glass from him and put it on the table. "It's either that or go nuts. Now, ready for pasta primavera?"

*****

Beneath a blanket of stars and a nearly half moon, Drusilla danced through Shady Glen Cemetery, singing softly and calling ghosts. They swirled around her, silent and as insubstantial as mist, and she shivered in delight, teasing, "I can *see* you."

Jumping onto a headstone, she spread her arms wide and stared into the moon. "Everything comes out to play with sister moon, sister moon who sees all our secrets, but won't tell, won't tell."

She looked down at the ghosts who stared up at her through sightless, mist-filled eyes. "It's coming to get her," she sang in a lilting, tuneless voice. "The big bad wolf will eat her all up."

End Trials: Interludes & Preludes


	6. Weakenings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Spike and Willow make love, Buffy and Angel discover just how weak she's gotten and confront Giles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally published in two chapters on February 4 and February 14, 2001. This chapter is NC17 and has Willow/Spike, Buffy/Angel and Willow/Spike/Drusilla. The original notes were: Lots and lots of smut; and smut, angst and vampire posturing. My take on Buffy's 18th birthday and the cruciamentum.

Buffy had been chasing the vampire for nearly fifteen minutes when she realized she was getting winded. A stitch was forming in her side and she was panting. Frowning, she tightened her grip on her stake and tried to put on an extra burst of speed.

But, there was nothing there. Her endless reserve was empty.

Baffled, she raised the stake, aimed and sent it flying through the air.

It went five feet wide and fell way too short. The fleeing vampire disappeared around a crypt, and Buffy stumbled on the path, falling to her knees. Her hands scraped along the gravel and she winced at the pain from the abrasions. Bent over, she gasped for air, dragging it into her lungs as her heart pounded in her chest.

She had the heart and lungs of a marathon runner and sprinter combined. She should have been able to run for an hour before becoming anywhere near this winded.

As Buffy caught her breath and pushed herself back to her feet, fear trickled into her mind. Something was wrong. Slowly she made her way over to her stake and picked it up, weighing it carefully. Maybe she'd been holding it wrong...

Spinning, she aimed for a tree and threw the sharpened chair leg.

Again, it went wide and fell short.

Buffy's eyes widened in shock and she wrapped her arms around her waist.

A sound came from behind her and she spun, suddenly terrified. Angel slipped from the shadows, his usual smirk on his face.

"That was pathetic, lover."

"I...don't know what's wrong..." Buffy's brow furrowed in puzzlement.

"Nothing a good fuck can't take care of."

"That's your answer to everything," she retorted, her fear fading, replaced by the snarky attitude she typically had around Angel.

He strode forward and caught her in his arms, lifting her off her feet to kiss her hungrily. "Usually works," he growled against her lips. His tongue pushed inside her mouth, licking her teeth and palate before finding her own to tangle with. Buffy wrapped her arms and legs around him and kissed him back with the wild passion he always inspired in her.

Angel walked them forward until they reached the shadows of a crypt and he pressed her back against the smooth marble wall. "It's been a while since we've done it in a cemetery, Buff."

"Beds are overrated," she moaned, her fingers tangling in his hair as his mouth found her throat.

Across town, another pair of human/vampire lovers was at the Mall.

"Will you make up your mind? This place closes in ten minutes and we've been here since nightfall," Spike complained.

Willow stuck her tongue out at him and held up her two finalists. "Tommy Girl t-shirt or leather tank top?"

"Leather."

"Why did I know you'd say that?" She hung the leather top back on the rack and admired the t-shirt. "Buffy has enough leather. A girl can never have too many t-shirts."

"Angelus would like the leather better."

"Well, then, it's a good thing the gift isn't for him." With a cheeky grin, Willow bounced off to the cashier. Spike rolled his eyes, then admired the sway of her green plaid mini-skirt. With the white blouse, navy blazer, and loafers, she looked like a naughty schoolgirl, and he'd had a partial erection since he'd picked her up at six.

They'd be lucky to make it to the car before he jumped her.

Whistling under his breath, Spike strolled towards the entrance to the store to wait for his lover.

As Angel slid his cool lips over her cheek and down to the hollow in her throat, Buffy whimpered and clutched at his broad shoulders. Heat flooded her and she squirmed against him, molding her aching crotch to the hard bulge between his legs. Growling into her throat, Angel thrust against her, manipulating her body until she was weak in the knees and mewling in need.

"Please..." she begged helplessly, her fingers combing through his hair, guiding his mouth along her collarbone.

Angel peeled her jacket from her, then found the straps of her tank top, tugging them down her arms. One breast popped free, the nipple instantly puckering in the chilled air. His mouth covered it, suckling hungry and sending a fresh surge of heat through her. Frantically, she tugged his shirt from his waistband and ran her hands up his back, her fingernails scraping at his supple flesh.

Glancing up, Angel smirked at the dazed desire in her eyes, the flush of her skin. His hands slipped down her trembling body to the fastenings of her jeans and he quickly undid them, tugging the tight material down her legs. As they stuck on her boots, he dropped to his knees and maneuvered the jeans over one of her feet. Reaching up, he gripped the sides of her panties and pulled them down too, his mouth peppering kisses over her thighs as he bared her lower body to his hot gaze.

"You are such a beautiful slut, my love," he murmured against the silky skin of one thigh. "All hot and wet for me, half dressed and exposed to the world."

"You're the one with the hard-on," she muttered back, pressing her hands flat on the hard stone behind her to keep herself upright, as, one leg free of clothes, she widened her stance, opening herself for him. He continued to kiss her thighs, each flick of his tongue on her skin making her wetter and sending a sharp pulse of pleasure through her clit.

When Angel finally nuzzled past her damp curls and lashed his tongue around that aching nubbin, she nearly screamed in lust. Her legs shook and he grabbed them, holding her up as he caught her tender flesh between his teeth and nipped.

While his ears filled with the sounds of her pleasure, her juices spilled over his mouth and chin and he drank them in. Quaking in orgasm, Buffy bucked wildly against his lips, moaning and whimpering for more.

Gently licking her clean, Angel fumbled at his belt, finally freeing his straining cock. As his hard flesh throbbed angrily, he hissed and wrapped his fingers around the base, squeezing tightly. Pulling free of her, he stood up and caught the nape of her neck, dragging her mouth to his for a wild kiss.

Tasting herself on him, Buffy moaned and squirmed in renewed desire. She reached between them and found the tip of his cock, coating her fingers with his secretions, as she caressed him until he growled one word deep in his throat.

"Mine..."

Willow simply smirked as Spike hustled her out to the car. Every few seconds she glanced down at the prominent bulge in the front of his tight jeans, then rubbed her breast against his arm. Her hand slid down his back and patted his butt.

"Tart."

"Hmm?" she asked coyly, batting her eyelashes at him as he scowled in frustrated need.

"Naughty schoolgirls get spanked, you know."

"Why do you think I wore it, silly?" Pulling away from him, Willow skipped the last few feet to the car. "Your place or mine?"

Letting out a low, continuous growl, Spike grabbed her arm, opened the back door and shoved her inside the dark car. "Neither."

Lust flooded her, and she grinned in anticipation, sprawling on her back on the soft leather. Spike followed her in, closing the door behind him. The blacked out windows caused them to be plunged into nearly total darkness until he flipped on the overhead light.

"That'll run down the battery," she pointed out, licking her lips as he knelt between her thighs.

"If I planned to make long, passionate love to you."

Another thrill went through her, as she realized he was going to take her hard and fast. Willow squirmed as wet heat flooded from her, soaking her panties,

The scent of her arousal filled the close confines and Spike drew it in deeply, his nose quivering. Catching her thighs in his hands, he ran his fingers up beneath her skirt to the sides of her panties. His eyes focused on her tongue as it licked her lips over and over, he tugged the cotton scrap down her legs and tossed it over the seat.

He flipped her skirt up, eyeing her swollen lower lips peeking out between glistening red curls. His cock thrust painfully against his zipper, and he quickly freed himself, groaning at the pleasure as his cock was able to expand fully. He pumped it a few times, grinning at the sight of her eyes widening and glowing with need.

Taking hold of Willow's thighs again, Spike pulled her towards him, until her legs wrapped around his hips, her heels digging into the small of his back and pushing his jeans down his legs. Leaning forward, he guided the tip of his cock to her entrance and sank into her.

Willow moaned softly, squirming beneath him as he filled her, her hands grasping the lapels of his jacket to hold him to her. His hips began to pump and she bounced on the springy seat, meeting his thrusts.

"Always hot for me, aren't you luv," he murmured against her throat.

"Yes, yes," she babbled, arching her head back and thrusting her hips higher, feeling a jolt of pleasure as her clit contacted with his pubic bone.

Grunting at the feel of the new angle and her muscles clenching around him, Spike thrust faster, driving her down into the car seat. His cock throbbed painfully, and he grinned wickedly, then let himself go, coming into her in sharp, hard jabs.

As his cool semen filled her, Willow moaned in disappointment, her body on the edge of orgasm. Her legs slipped from around him, her thighs quivering with tension, and she collapsed back. He rose to his knees, panting lightly.

She watched as Spike refastened his jeans and sat back against the door, fumbling in his pockets for his cigarettes. Pulling one out, he lit it, then leered at her.

Willow glared back and shoved herself into a sitting position, tugging her skirt down over herself, reddening as she felt his seed leak from inside her and wet the material beneath her.

Reaching up, Spike flicked off the light, plunging them into darkness. Blinking wildly, Willow looked up and saw a flash of gold. His eyes.

"I can see you," he sang softly, releasing a cloud of smoke into the air.

Slumping back against the door, Willow swallowed hard, then slowly pulled her skirt up. Parting her still trembling thighs, she slid two fingers along her wet, swollen cleft, hissing at the painful need in her body.

As Buffy wrapped her arms around Angel's neck, she felt his hands on her naked bottom, his fingers caressing her and sending fresh bolts of desire along her nerves. He lifted her easily, pressing her against the crypt, and urged her thighs to part. Buffy levered her legs around him, clinging to him for support, and moaned as his cock pressed hard against her cleft. Teasingly, he ran it along her swollen flesh, rubbing her clit back and forth until it pulsed painfully.

Grunting hard and deep, Angel used every ounce of his control to enter her slowly until she was pinned on his cock. Staring down into her unseeing eyes, he began to fuck her at a slow, steady pace, his hands tightening on her bottom, his forehead pressed to hers. Buffy wriggled as best she could, trying to get friction on her clit, ignoring the bruises forming on her back from grinding into the hard stone.

Gripping his shoulders tightly, she tried to lift herself, but found herself unable to do so. A frown crossed her lips and her forehead furrowed, but a powerful thrust from Angel sent all thought from her mind and left her keening in pleasure.

Feeling his orgasm approaching on a rush of lust, Angel buried his mouth in Buffy's neck, sucking and licking at her sweaty flesh, as his hips pounded upwards, driving their bodies together at a rapid pace. Her inner muscles began to spasm, tickling his cock, and he growled loudly as he exploded into her hot core.

"Angel," Buffy cried as her body spasmed into another orgasm, leaving her shuddering and weak in his arms.

Gently Willow passed her thumb over her over-sensitized clit, hissing softly, then whimpering as the tension inside her grew even tighter. Two fingers sank into her wet passage, pistoning in and out as her thumb continued to circle her clit. Her eyes fixated on the burning cigarette and the golden eyes watching her intently, and she pumped harder, her hips lifting off the seat.

"Come for me, baby," Spike coaxed hoarsely.

Willow moaned and closed her eyes, concentrating on her body. Her fingers grew slippery, spreading their combined juices over her heated flesh as she began to rub harder, thrust deeper. Her hips bucked wildy, and her free hand dug into the back of the seat, holding herself up.

With a harsh cry, she came, her body flying out of control and trembling wildly.

As she slowly came down, her hand fell away, her fingers glistening in the darkness.

Spike leaned forward and took her hand, pulling her limp body to her knees. Drawing her fingers into his mouth, he licked them clean, then slid them down his chest to his crotch.

His cock was hard and nearly pulsing beneath the denim and her quivering fingers.

"Let's go home, luv."

Nodding dazedly, Willow clamored over the front seat, while Spike got out of the back and slid behind the wheel. As she reached for her seatbelt, he caught her wrist and shook his head. She looked up at him blankly--able to see better as part of the front window was clear--then slid over as he pulled her towards him. His free hand swiftly undid his jeans again, and she moaned softly at the sight of his erect cock springing from the dark denim.

Spike tilted the steering wheel up, then leaned over and placed a hard, hungry kiss on her mouth. "Suck me, but don't bring me off until I say, understand?"

She nodded, unable to speak as erotic and naughty images filled her head.

As she lowered her head to his lap, his hand moved over her back up to her nape, and he murmured, "If you make me come, you don't get to for the rest of the night."

A thrill of desire shot through her veins straight to her clit, and Willow whimpered, opening her mouth to suck the tip of his cock between her lips.

Gritting his teeth as his balls tightened with need, Spike started the engine and put the car into gear, wondering if he'd be able to drive ten feet let alone the two miles to the mansion.

Angel lowered Buffy's feet to the ground and watched her stagger, then slump weakly against the crypt. As he tucked his cock away and fastened his pants, he watched her breasts heave, one free to the cold night air, one still bound by her tank top. Perspiration glinted on her flushed skin, and she was shaking.

"You're cold."

"It's January," she chattered at him, bending to reach for her panties still caught around one leg. A wave of exhaustion hit her and she toppled over.

Angel caught her, frowning. "Didn't realize I fucked the strength out of you, lover."

"It'll take more than that," she scoffed weakly, using his arm as a support while she dressed. As she zipped her jeans, Angel cupped her breast to lift the shirt over it, but stopped and stared at the soft mound.

"You're bruised," he noted in surprise.

Looking down, Buffy frowned in concern at the ugly purple marks around her nipple. "Maybe the cold..."

Turning her around, Angel pushed her against the crypt and, as she protested, pulled her top up.

"Fuck," he growled.

"What?"

His hand touched her back and she whimpered as an achy pain spread through her.

"Your back is bright red. Buffy, you don't bruise like this."

The memory of being unable to lift her body off his cock, something she was easily able to do over and over again, returned along with the memory of her loss of energy in chasing the vampire earlier. Fear crashed through her and Buffy spun around.

"Something's really wrong," she whimpered, hugging herself.

"I'm taking you to your Watcher," he growled, scooping up her jacket and draping it over her shoulders.

"You can't come with me to Giles," she protested feebly.

Angel glanced around the cemetery and shook his head. "I'm not leaving you alone until I find out what the fuck is wrong with you, why you're suddenly bruising, why you can't throw a stake straight."

"Maybe I'm coming down with the flu or something. Remember when I was sick last year? I lost my energy and my coordination."

"Maybe."

Spike screeched to a halt in the driveway and threw the car into park. His hips pumped upwards, driving his cock into Willow's eager mouth. She bobbed her head at a fast pace, her fingers wrapped around the base of his cock, pumping him to the edge of her throat.

"Now," he barked, the painful need in his cock almost too much to stand.

Lifting her head slightly, Willow concentrated on the tip, sucking hard, her tongue lashing along the glans. Her fingers slid down, fondling his tight balls.

"Fuck," he yelled, his head flying back, eyes rolling, as he erupted into her mouth.

Willow pumped him gently, milking the last drop from him, as she swallowed hungrily. As his flesh began to go limp in her mouth, she raised her head and licked spilled cum from her lips. Spike gawked at her, mouth open, silent pants echoing from him.

"Did I teach you all that?" he finally choked out.

Grinning, Willow rose to her knees, squirming slightly at the fresh desire making her pussy tingle, and shook her head. "Dru taught me the control to keep you from coming."

Spike smirked weakly and turned off the engine.

"So, do I get to come again?" she asked cheekily as she opened the passenger door and slid out.

Spike snatched her panties from the seat and stuck them in his pocket, then rounded the car and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "First, there's the matter of naughty schoolgirl punishment."

"Ooh, yeah," Willow giggled as he led her into the mansion.

As Buffy and Angel hurried down the path out of the cemetery, Faith stepped out from behind a large tombstone and watched them, a horny, dark look on her face. She had come across them as he had started pounding that big cock into Buffy's tiny body.

"Angel, huh?"

*****

Faith watched Buffy and her boyfriend disappear around a distant hedgerow, then turned to head the other direction. "Huh. Boy must be damn secure in his manhood not to care that his girlfriend's screaming out an old lover's name," she muttered to herself as she continued her patrol, a bit more hot and bothered than before, but with a smile on her face as she wondered if it might be worth risking Buffy's friendship to get some of that extra large man-meat for herself.

*****

"The big bad wolf is going to eat her all up," Drusilla sang as she waltzed into Spike's bedroom, arms spread wide as if dancing with a lover.

Laying on his back, his entire body clenched in desire, Spike could only grunt.

Willow straddled him, her fingers digging into the bedding on either side of his head, as her hips bounced rapidly. Perspiration slithered down her body, and harsh pants echoed from her lips as she strove towards climax.

"Oooh, pretty colors on your bum. You've been naughty."

Willow skidded out of rhythm, then winced as her reddened bottom jarred against Spike's raised knees. Taking a deep breath, she started to move again, muttering, "Bit... disconcerting..."

Spike grunted again, his mind addled with lust. Reaching up, he cupped Willow's breasts, squeezing them until she moaned in painful pleasure.

Drusilla cocked her head and gave them a curious look. "Butterflies. I see butterflies dancing on your skin, drinking in your lust." She started to hum and drifted over to the cold fireplace. "Stones and bones and little wormies crawling..."

"Dru," Spike yelled, as Willow lost her rhythm again.

"Will-iam," the vampiress sang in response. "William the bloody, the brave and the bold, are you going to fight the dragon?"

Turning back to the couple on the bed, she was on them in an instant, knocking Willow off of Spike and onto her back. Before the redhead could protest, Drusilla buried her mouth between her legs.

"Oh fuck," Willow yelled, tumbling onto her back and arching her hips as the vampiress' cold tongue lapped hungrily at her swollen flesh.

"In my head, too much in my head, it hurts, it swims, it pleads with me," Drusilla babbled each phrase between hard licks of Willow's clit. "Make it go away..."

Quickly realizing that a hot quim was no longer surrounding his raging cock, Spike growled and morphed. Rising to his knees, he grabbed Drusilla's hips, ripping at her skirt. She was nude beneath it, her legs spread enticingly, moisture glistening on her black nether curls.

"Taste you and Spike, and through Spike, daddy and grandmummy, and me and Spike and you and a circle, all a circle..." Drusilla's voice rose in a keen buried against Willow's weeping flesh, as Spike slammed his cock into her, driving at a furious pace.

As Drusilla fastened her lips around Willow's tender clit, the redhead yelled again, mindless as her orgasm crashed through her. Her hips bucked wildly, her fingers grabbing for the brunette's shoulders, pressing her mouth down against her until she could take no more.

Raising her head, Drusilla whimpered, a long drawn out sound, and thrust backwards, driving Spike's cock to her core. He was on auto-pilot, head flung back, golden eyes staring blindly at the ceiling, grunts and growls issuing from his slack lips, as her inner muscles tightened and fluttered around his throbbing cock.

Willow recovered enough to lever herself out from beneath Drusilla and turn on her side, smiling sappily as she watched her two lovers mate like wild animals. Drusilla vamped out, her fangs digging into her lip until blood trickled down her chin.

The scent of blood made Spike howl and lunge forward, burying his fangs in her neck. Drusilla keened, her body arching and twisting in orgasm. As he fed, he came, too, exploding into her quaking body. Together they collapsed, still joined, Spike nursing more gently at the wound in his lover's neck.

Drusilla's demonic features slid away and she crooned in pleasure, reaching back to stroke Spike's head as he fed from her. Slowly he pulled back, licking the blood from his lips, and turned his attention to Willow. Lowering his head, he pressed his mouth to hers in a tender kiss.

"Big bad wolf," Drusilla murmured sleepily.

*****

Buffy finally brought Angel to a stop outside the Library doors, hissing, "If Wesley has seen your picture, and he must have, and he's in there, he'll recognize you and the whole gig'll be blown."

Angel's response was a frustrated growl and a dark narrow glare. She flinched back slightly, but refused to budge, arms crossed over her chest, feet braced.

Finally, he stepped back, nodding. "I'll wait out here. Don't take long. I don't like this."

"Yeah, well neither do I," Buffy muttered as she turned and shoved open the Library doors.

Giles looked up from a pile of books, a frown on his face which he quickly wiped away.

"Wesley here?"

"Uh...no."

"Good." Pushing the door back open, Buffy said, "He's not here, you can come in."

Angel strode in behind her, taking her arm and guiding her quickly to the table.

At the look of angry determination on the vampire's face, Giles swallowed visibly and reached for a cross. He didn't raise it, simply held it ready to use.

"You don't need that," Angel growled. "I only want answers."

"*I* want the answers," Buffy stressed, pulling away from her lover and sitting down at the table. She shivered slightly as he took a position behind her, protecting her...or claiming her?

"Buffy, it's very risky to have him here," Giles stuttered, his face flushing with worry.

"If Wesley comes in, he'll hide. Look, something's very wrong. I got winded chasing a vamp, and my stake throwing is way off. And my strength..." Buffy reddened and dropped her eyes. "It's off, too."

"Well, maybe you're coming down with something." Giles shifted nervously in his chair, his eyes on his books.

"That's what I thought, but I feel fine otherwise. No sniffles or fever or anything." Picking up a dagger from a pile of weapons on the table, she rose and turned towards the dummy Faith had been bashing on earlier in the evening. "Look, it's pathetic." Hefting the knife, she aimed for the heart and threw it. The hilt bounced weakly off the dummy's knee.

"At least you threw straight this time," Angle grumbled.

Buffy shot him a look, then turned back to Giles, arms akimbo. "See? Pathetic! How am I supposed to be the scourge of the netherworld if I can't hit the broadside of a barn, point first?"

"Perhaps your weakness is the prelude to your becoming ill. I'm sure it's nothing permanent, Buffy."

"I don't *feel* ill," she insisted, starting to pace.

"Listen," Giles stressed. "Go home, get a good night's sleep, and come back here in the morning and I'll test your strength and agility, all right?" He smiled weakly at her. "That is, if you're feeling up to coming to school tomorrow."

"It's scary, Giles," Buffy protested.

"I know, but...just try not to worry."

Buffy frowned, a bit disappointed. She had hoped that Giles would take one look at her, diagnose the problem, and present her with the cure, but he was being very lame and evasive. Turning to Angel, she saw that he was frowning, too.

"I don't buy it," Angel said suddenly, breaking the moment of silence. "I would know if she's sick, or coming down with something. I'd smell it on her."

"Well, perhaps your legendary senses aren't so legendary after all," Giles snapped, pushing his glasses higher on his nose to glare defiantly at the vampire.

Growling, Angel took a step forward only to find the Slayer in front of him.

"Stop it, both of you. Angel, please, just take me home. Maybe sleep is what I need.

Angel took her arms and pulled her closer, then bent his head and inhaled deeply.

Buffy squirmed in embarrassment. "What are you doing?"

"Seeing if I missed anything." He trailed his nose down her arm, halting at the inner elbow. "Take off your jacket."

"Let go of my arms," she replied, exasperated by his behavior. He did so long enough for her to slip off the jacket, then he was nuzzling her arm again.

Suddenly Angel stiffened and spun, turning blazing yellow eyes on Giles. "It's subtle, masked by vanilla to disguise it as her perfume, but I can smell it now that I'm looking for it. What the fuck have you put inside her?"

Shoving Buffy aside, Angel stormed towards the table. As she protested, Giles jumped from his seat, the cross held in front of his chest as he retreated.

"Inside...me?" Buffy whispered, staring down at her arm. "What?" She turned panicked eyes on Giles, as Angel growled menacingly, forced back by the cross.

Giles slumped against the stair railing, a look of helplessness filling his eyes. "It wasn't me," he finally murmured. "I tried to stop it. Buffy, I'm so sorry."

Angel's growl deepened and he lunged for Giles, hissing as the cross hit his arm.

Buffy screamed, "No," and dashed in front of Angel, grabbing the front of his shirt and trying to force him back. As he pressed forward, her muscles quivered and her arms quickly began to buckle. Tears of frustration filled her eyes and she collapsed against his chest. "Please..."

His arms automatically went around her trembling body and he cursed under his breath as he felt her tears soak through the thin silk of his shirt. "Don't cry, baby, please." Gently he stroked her back.

Watching them, Giles slowly lowered the cross. The tenderness the vampire was suddenly displaying was almost...Angel-like.

Slowly Buffy pulled back, her hands brushing at her damp cheeks. Remaining within Angel's loose embrace, she turned to face Giles. Angel clasped his hands together on her stomach and let her relax against him.

"Tell me, Giles," Buffy pleaded.

Silence fell for a long minute, until Giles took a deep breath, then looked up, finally able to meet her troubled eyes. "There is an ancient ritual known as the Crucimentum."

Behind her, Angel stiffened and another low growl erupted from him.

Buffy ignored him, focusing all her attention on Giles. "What does it do?"

"It was begun centuries, perhaps even millennia ago. No one really knows why, though I have my suspicions."

"To weed out older Slayers who maybe have begun to think for themselves," Angel spat out.

"Yes," Giles replied solidly, over Buffy's gasp. "A few days before her eighteenth birthday a Slayer is progressively weakened through the use of hypnosis and drugs. On the night of her birthday, she is placed within a contained arena--a testing facility, as it were--and..." His voice died away and he swallowed hard.

"What?" Buffy insisted. "Giles, I have to know."

"I'm violating sacred Watcher rules by telling you this."

"You don't give a damn about sacred Watcher rules."

A sad smile flickered across the older man's face and he nodded. "The Slayer is usually unarmed, basically helpless with only normal human strength and agility. She is to use her wits to defeat a vampire and escape the arena."

"It's barbaric," Angel barked.

Giles grunted, his eyes narrowing. "Interesting that *you* would say that."

"Not now," Buffy begged. "So...so Wesley did this to me?"

Nodding, Giles replied, "On orders of the Council. Buffy, I argued and fought against this and was threatened with termination of my duties and removal from Sunnydale. I thought...I thought I needed to be here for you."

Buffy's brow furrowed as she tried to process the information. "If this ritual happens whenever a Slayer reaches eighteen, why did you try to stop it?"

Giles shook his head slowly. "It hasn't been used in over a century. It was deemed barbaric." He shot a look at Angel. "With better training and modern weapons more and more Slayers are reaching eighteen, but the Council stopped testing them this way...until you."

Spine stiffening, Buffy pulled away from Angel, a determined look on her face. "This is another part of their testing of me, right? To determine my worthiness."

A very sad look filled Giles' eyes and he shook his head. "I thought so too, at first, but now...I think they want you to die, Buffy." He continued on quickly. "They've become very tradition bound, and your methods, your independence go against the very fabric of those traditions. They've never been able to control you, so they would rather see you dead. Faith, with all her rebellious nature, is more under their thumb than you will ever be."

Angel's arms tightened around her. "If Buffy dies, another will be called.

"No. Faith was already called. If she were to die, another would be chosen, but Buffy's successor is already here. I believe the Council only wants one Slayer, their Slayer."

"I don't believe this," Buffy muttered, both angry and shocked. "All I've done for them, all I've done for the world..." She shook her head helplessly, and asked hesitantly, "Does Faith know?"

"I highly doubt it. Wesley made sure she was patrolling when he hypnotized you."

"Those damn pointless crystals, right?"

He nodded.

"What am I going to do, Giles?"

Angel answered her. "Tell them to fuck off."

"And they'll deport Giles or worse."

"Yeah? So?" Angel shrugged.

Buffy pulled away from him and turned to face him. "I need him."

"You don't need anyone but me, baby," he replied sensuously.

Rolling her eyes, Buffy snapped, "Give me a viable option here."

Angel's seductive look turned into a scowl. "Well, you're not going into some controlled environment with a vampire out to end your existence." He looked at Giles. "When do these damn drugs wear off?"

"The test is in two days. Probably four or five."

"What am I going to do? How do I get out of this without them knowing that you told me, Giles?"

"...I don't know."

"I kill them all," Angel hissed angrily. "So what if they send new ones. You'll be recovered by then and well past your birthday."

"I can't let you do that," she protested.

"And I won't let you die," he yelled.

End Trials: Weakenings


	7. Lambs To The Slaughter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Buffy and Faith share another dream, and Angel takes his frustration out on Willow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally published in two chapters on March 6 and April 16, 2001. There is attempted dubcon sex--Angel/Willow and was rated R. Apparently I wasn't happy with the emotions in the second part.

The argument had stalemated--Angel all for killing Wesley and the other Watchers, Buffy for not doing that, Giles not knowing what to do. After an hour of debate that had gotten them nowhere, Angel had returned Buffy to her house and left her with a distracted kiss.

Exhausted both physically and emotionally, she'd fallen asleep relatively easily, only to dream.

~~~~~

There was sand beneath Buffy's feet, cold sand sliding between her toes as she walked barefoot across a dark arena. She could feel eyes on her, and, looking up, she saw dim figures in the stands. There was a scattering of torches high above them, the only light in the vast, dark space.

Those seated in the stands were human, but the creature in the arena with her wasn't.

Quickly she ran her hands over her body, searching for a weapon. She could feel the texture of the cloth change from cotton to silk to leather and back again, as her hands became more frantic. Finally, all she touched was bare skin, and she flinched.

No weapons. Naked. She was always naked without her weapons.

"You rely on them too much," a voice floated down from above her.

Buffy squinted into the darkness, trying to see who was speaking, and was suddenly knocked to the ground. As she struggled against a large body, a light flared.

And Angel's demonic face grinned down at her.

Screaming, she rolled them, then collapsed, Angel disappearing, the sand turning to soft grass. The moon rose full and heavy above her head, and she sat up, disoriented.

Willow strolled towards her, wrapped in what looked like a long piece of gold embroidered emerald silk. Her neck was bare of its collar, and blood oozed from two prominent bite marks.

"Where are we?"

Willow smiled sadly. "It's all coming to an end soon. You must make a choice."

"A choice between what?"

"Someone will die," Angel murmured from behind her, his arms wrapping around her waist.

Buffy turned awkwardly in his embrace. "I don't want anyone to die."

"Death comes to us all," Willow crooned.

"Will it be me?"

Drusilla wafted into view, dancing in the wildflowers. "A heart will die."

"Will it be me?" Buffy demanded.

"Only you know," Willow whispered, disappearing from sight.

Buffy felt the arms around her disappear until only Drusilla was left, coming ever closer. Warily, the Slayer rose to her feet. She was clothed again, but still weaponless.

"Weaponless, but helpless?" Drusilla shook her head, her hair flowing in slow motion over her shoulders. "The stake is only an extension of your true self. You are the weapon." Her voice began to rise, the dancing stopped and her eyes flashed golden. "You are our destruction."

Wind whipped through the meadow and sand blew into Buffy's face. Raising her arms protectively, she cried out as the grit stung her cheeks.

Finally the wind died down and she blinked open her eyes. She was in the arena again, but this time there was light. Ten feet in front of her stood a pole.

Bound to the pole was her mother.

Her very dead mother.

Sightless eyes stared accusingly, as blood dripped from the gaping wound in her chest. Her heart lay at her feet, mangled and torn. Crouched next to her, licking his fingers was Angel. Blood streaked his naked chest and although he was in human form, there was nothing of humanity on his face.

Wesley stepped out of the shadows and patted Angel on the head. "Now see the result of your willfulness? Your mother is dead because of you."

Heart pounding in her chest, horror filling her, Buffy could only whimper in denial.

"See what bedding a vampire will get you?"

"Stop," she begged pitifully, burying her face in her hands, tears soaking her palms.

Buffy could almost sense the change in scenery. Peeking through her fingers she found herself looking through a glass window at what looked like an operating room. Dropping her hands, she grasped a cool metal railing and watched white clad doctors moving about beneath her.

A door opened on the far side of the room and Wesley dragged a struggling, naked Willow inside. Alarmed, Buffy beat on the glass, but was helpless to watch as her friend was strapped face down to an operating table.

"We haven't had a live subject to test the bond on in a century."

Buffy spun around to find Wesley sitting behind her, fingers steepled at his chin.

"Fascinating town you have here."

Screaming the word 'no', Buffy felt her legs give out. As she crumpled, she felt herself hit hard ground. Her scream still ringing in her ears, she recognized Restfield Cemetery and her sister Slayer coming towards her.

"Bitchin' dream, huh 'B'?" Extending her hand, Faith pulled Buffy to her feet.

"Dream? How...you..."

Faith shrugged. "Slayer prophetic crap, I'm guessing. So, you're boinking a vamp. Kind of kinky there, 'B'."

Confused, Buffy could only shake her head. "What's true and what's false?"

"Dunno. It's your dream."

"Is it?"

For the first time, confusion flashed on the face of the dark- haired Slayer as well. "I see...crystals and death...or is that crystal meth?"

"Same difference."

The cemetery vanished, replaced by the empty Library. Faith picked up an ornate cross and examined it. "What would happen if I held this to Liam's skin?"

"The big bad wolf would eat you up," Drusilla whispered from nowhere.

Faith spun around, a stake in her hand. "No one's going to eat me."

"Maybe this is your test, too, Faith," Buffy murmured as dizziness assailed her. "Why can't they just let us be what we are?"

"Choices, Slayer, you face the lady or the tiger. Which will you choose?"

"Willow?" Buffy whispered.

"Then daddy must die," Drusilla mourned as the room went dark.

~~~~~

Two Slayers on opposite sides of town awoke screaming a denial to their empty rooms.

Buffy sobbed blindly into her pillow, the images of the dream washing over and coalescing into overwhelming fear.

Faith handled it a bit more calmly, rising from her bed on shaky legs to snag a bottle of beer from the toilet tank. Sitting cross-legged on the floor of the bathroom, she took several deep draws on the cheap beer, and tried to calm down.

Prophetic dreams were rare for her. This was the second one she'd had since coming to Sunnydale, and both had included the same cast of characters. She and Buffy, Willow and vampires. This one had been more detailed, showing her more--Buffy's mother, Wesley, Liam...

Liam...

Angel...

Eyes widening, Faith stared at the bottle in her hand, then chugged the contents.

It couldn't be true. Buffy, her sister Slayer, in so many ways her kindred spirit, couldn't be fucking a vampire, the same vampire who ruled this town's underworld. By all reports, Angelus was a vicious, violent, uncontrollable beast who had raped and murdered his way across Europe for a hundred and fifty years, and had been doing the same to Sunnydale for the last year.

How...how could Buffy...

Stomach roiling, Faith dived for the toilet, vomiting up the contents of her stomach at the thought of the delicate Slayer willingly sleeping with a demonically animated corpse.

*****

"Daddy's sad."

Sitting in the darkened Library, legs stretched in front of him, glass of twenty year old Scotch in one hand, Angel looked up at his beautiful, demented childe. Drusilla leaned against the door jamb, dressed in a nearly sheer scarlet gown.

As their eyes met, hers widened then narrowed. "All sad because of *her*. Because of the nasty Slayer."

"Dru."

At his snapping voice, she frowned even more and slithered into the room, whispering, "Another is already called. Let her die, my Angel. It is her destiny to die."

"No," he growled, slamming the glass down on the table and sloshing whisky over his hand.

"She is weakened." Drusilla began to sway, her eyes rolling in her head. "Strike now," she hissed. "Like a snake, like a shark. Eat her up. Destroy her before your love destroys you, black cancer, eating away at you, making you weak." Her voice rose in pitch with every word, and she raised trembling hands to her head. "The bad man comes to eat her for tea, her insides like strawberry jam and just as sweet."

Jumping to his feet, Angel grabbed her as she collapsed. "Stop it, Dru."

Leaning weakly against him, she began to giggle and sing, "Ring around a rosy, she all falls down and down and down..."

An unfamiliar emotion swelled in Angel and he tightened his grip, shaking her furiously in denial. "Stop it!"

"Your heart stinks of her and stinks of fear," she mumbled against his chest.

"I'm not afraid," he growled.

"Daddy lies."

With a louder growl, he flung her away from him and stormed out of the library to the sound of her insane giggles.

*****

The slamming open of the bedroom door awakened both Willow and Spike. At the sight of Angel looming in the doorway, Spike rolled, dragging the blanket over his lover's nudity, trying to shield her.

"Out, pup."

As Willow froze in terror, Spike swallowed visibly and sat up. "What can I do for you, Sire?"

"You can get the fuck out of this room right now, William," Angel replied snidely.

"No," Willow whimpered, unable to control her fearful reaction as the moment she had been dreading for months finally arrived.

"Do you want to kiss the dawn, boy?" Angel strode into the room.

"If I die, she'll die," Spike replied bravely.

"And if I turn her first?"

Willow's breath caught in her throat and the thumping of her heart filled her ears. Blindly reaching forward, she clutched at Spike's shoulders and pressed herself against his back.

"Don't leave me," she begged.

Angel leaned down, sneering softly, "I'd let you stay, Spike, but you'd undoubtedly cause a ruckus and spoil my mood."

"Take your anger out on me," Spike replied through gritted teeth.

"But you take it too well." Angel patted his childe's cool cheek and smirked as a muscle jumped beneath his fingers.

"Are you...are you going to turn her?"

"Someday. Maybe today. Maybe not." Angel wrapped his fingers around Spike's arm and yanked the younger vampire from the bed, flinging him across the room where he crashed against the wall next to the door. "Out now," Angel ordered, his voice icy and hard.

Painfully, Spike picked himself up off the floor. Unable to look at the bed and its weeping occupant, he shuffled out the door, pulling it shut behind him.

Grinning, Angel turned back to Willow and watched as with shaking hands she dragged the blanket over her breasts. Tears ran in rivers down her cheeks and she sobbed bitterly.

"Such a pretty sight," he crooned, reaching for her.

*****

As the sun rose, Buffy brought herself under control and headed for the shower. She needed to get clean and calm, and then she needed to talk to her mother.

It was time her mother knew the truth before it brought about her death.

*****

Clean, but tired, Buffy made her way down the stairs. She wasn't looking forward to the confrontation with her mother, but knew it was way past time. As she stepped off the last step, she heard her mother's voice coming from the kitchen.

"If it's that important, I'll go wake her," Joyce said.

"It is, thank you."

At the sound of another voice--a very familiar voice--Buffy's eyes widened and she hurried down the hallway, nearly running into her mother.

"Buffy," Joyce smiled. "I was about to go wake you up. Your friend says that Willow needs to see you ASAP; something about a science project due Monday?"

Eyes widening even farther, Buffy nodded wordlessly and peered past her mother.

Spike stood in the middle of the kitchen, hands clenched at his sides, horror in his eyes. Buffy knew him well enough to realize he was barely keeping his demonic nature in check.

And that meant something had happened to Willow.

Panic filling her, Buffy slid her feet into a pair of tennis shoes and grabbed her coat. "Yeah, emergency. Science project." Her eyes never left Spike.

"Surely it could have waited until later in the morning," Joyce protested with a sigh, already giving up on what she had hoped would be a nice, calm Saturday morning spent discussing college choices.

"Guess not, mom. I'll be back later." Buffy grabbed Spike's arm and dragged him towards the door, silently thanking god that it was overcast.

"It was nice to meet you, William," Joyce called after them.

"Goodbye, Mrs. Summers," Spike managed to mutter as he dashed behind the Slayer to the alley where he'd parked his car.

Buffy was already in the passenger seat, drumming her fingers nervously on her knees as he flung himself behind the wheel, a tendril of smoke coming from one ear.

"What happened?" she demanded, the fear inside her growing as he started the car and peeled out of the alley.

"Angelus." It was all Spike could get out as tears filled his eyes and he pushed the accelerator to the floor.

"What did he do? Spike, what did he do?" Buffy yelled, hanging onto the strap above the door as he turned a corner on two wheels.

"I don't know, I don't know. He...Fuck! We should never have gone to the mansion. We've been tempting fate and now he's..." Spike choked off the rest, his fingers tightening on the wheel.

In the face of his terror, Buffy tried to calm her own. Reaching out, she gently stroked his leather covered arm. "Would you know if...Would you feel it through the bond?" Inside, she screamed against the pain and fear, but she forced herself to think rationally.

"I think so," he muttered. "But, just because she's still alive doesn't mean... I'll kill him." He pounded on the steering wheel in fury. "I don't care if I have to die for it, I'll rip him apart with my bare hands." The hatred in his voice was palpable.

Buffy felt tears fill her eyes from fear of what might be happening to her dearest friend, but also because Willow was so lucky to have someone love her to such an extreme.

"What happened, Spike?" she tried again.

He took a deep breath, expelling it in a harsh groan, then wiped furiously at the tears on his cheeks before answering. "I don't know what set him off. All I know is that about thirty minutes ago, he stormed into my room and threw me out, leaving Willow alone with him. I begged him not to turn her. He didn't say he would. He didn't say he wouldn't, either."

"He's had plenty of time to rape her," he whispered, his voice as empty and desolate as his countenance.

*****

Willow managed to avoid Angel's first grab, surrendering the sheet and her modesty for a chance to escape. Dashing across the floor she nearly made it to the door before he pounced, driving her forward into the hard wood. His hand cradled her face, protecting it, but her chest banged hard, driving the breath from her.

As she gasped harshly, he pressed her into the wood, his arms going around her waist and grinding her against him.

Willow cringed at the feel of his leather encased erection sliding over her back.

"Please," she moaned, tears flooding down her cheeks.

"I seem to recall certain promises made, pretty Willow," Angel murmured, his lips close to her ear. She shuddered and tried to wriggle free, but he held her tighter. "Anytime, anywhere, without a fight."

"That was...that was turning me," she managed to stammer out. "Not this."

"But, this may *be* turning you, Willow, and you promised not to fight any of it, including this. Turning is so much more pleasurable at the moment of orgasm. You won't even mind."

"I'll mind. And, so will you. I'll never be the vampire you want," she promised blindly, her heart thudding painfully in her chest.

Slowly Angel turned her, still pressing her to the door, his hands pinning hers to the unyielding wood. His eyes roamed down her shaking body, his mouth turning up into a sensuous smile at the sight of her little pink nipples hard, but not from desire.

"So lovely." Catching both her hands in one of his, he moved his other down her side, lightly touching her flushed skin and feeling her shiver in fear. One finger brushed across a nipple, and he delighted in her moan.

Her terror was intoxicating, but other smells were interfering with that delicious aroma.

Angel frowned and stepped back, releasing her.

"You reek of my childe."

Grabbing her elbow, Angel pulled her towards the bathroom. Willow struggled the entire way, finally beating at his back and shoulders until he lifted her in his arms.

"Put me down," she wailed, squirming so much he nearly dropped her.

As he flipped the light switch, illuminating the large, white bathroom, one of her hands hit his cheek, her fingernails gouging into his skin.

Angel growled, his demon bursting free, and Willow screamed, going limp in his arms. Setting her on her feet, he shoved her into the shower and turned on the water. She stumbled over the sill and fell against the far wall, shaking like a leaf.

"Bathe his seed from you and then come to my bed," he ordered harshly, his golden eyes boring into her.

Willow cowered beneath the hot spray of water and shook her head weakly.

One hand shot out and caught the leather collar at her neck, snapping her head towards him. "You shame him by denying me. In publically bonding to him, you gave me the rights of a sire. For your disobedience, I should take you downstairs, beat you to within an inch of your life, then stand back and watch my minions take you."

"No, please." Willow's fingers pulled at his hand, trying to free the collar from his tight grip. She could feel the leather bruising her neck, and winced in pain.

Angel let his demon slide away, and murmured in a coaxing voice, "Have our times together been so horrible, Willow? You enjoy sex. You certainly enjoy sex with my childe. It's quite obvious from the cries of pleasure I hear coming from these rooms." His hand slipped from the collar, his fingers caressing faded scars on her throat.

"I love him," she choked out.

"And Dru?"

"That's different."

"Why? Because she's a female? We are all family, Willow, and I am the sire. I am the master. I don't want to hurt you. I just want you."

Uncaring of the hot spray hitting his silk covered arm, Angel leaned in closer. "If you don't do as I say, it reflects very poorly on Spike. If he can't control his human mate, how can he control other vampires? You don't want him to face more challenges, do you?"

Despair flooded Willow and she sank back against the shower wall, one hand rubbing listlessly at her sore neck. Defeated, she dropped her eyes to the floor and mumbled, "No."

Smirking, Angel stepped back and closed the shower door. "Five minutes, lover."

Fresh tears filled Willow's eyes as she reached for the soap.

*****

In the Library of the old mansion, Drusilla lay on the Oriental rug before the fireplace, watching the flames dance amongst the charred wood and blackened stone. She was eavesdropping.

"Poor little Willow," she crooned softly, her fingers tracing the patterns in the rug. "Fear only makes Daddy happy."

A frown crossed her delicate features as worry grew. She wasn't certain she had done the right thing.

"I didn't plan it, no, no, but is it good or bad?"

She rolled onto her stomach, pillowing her head on her crossed arms, murmuring, "Spike will be so unhappy." As she imagined his sorrow, she also could picture him displeased, and she smiled. "Maybe he'll punish me." A trill of laughter burst from her, only to be cut off as Willow's scream reached the vampiress' sensitive ears.

"Don't fight him, Willow. Oh please don't make him angry at you."

"Soon we'll be a happy family..."

*****

With a final sob, Willow turned off the shower and stiffened her spine. She was determined not to cry anymore, to accept this and do it. It wasn't like she hadn't done it before...with him...

Swallowing convulsively, Willow clenched her hands into fists and stepped from the shower. She quickly dried off, not looking in the mirror Spike had hung for her use. She couldn't bear to see her own fear reflected back at her.

Steeling herself, she entered the bedroom.

Angel was gone.

It took her a moment to realize what his earlier emphasis meant. He wanted her in his bed. He wanted her to come to him.

Like a slave summoned to her master.

Or a whore to a client.

Willow began to shake from head to toe and her stomach knotted. As she stood in the middle of the room, unable to move, she realized the five minutes must have passed.

How long would he wait?

And what would he do to her if she kept him waiting too long?

The memory of bleeding lash marks on Drusilla's back galvanized Willow. She grabbed a black robe from one of the bedposts and wrapped it around herself, tying it tightly closed, then took a determined step towards the door.

Ignoring the screams in her mind, violently tamping down the fear that threatened to make her collapse, Willow left Spike's room and walked across the hall to Angel's.

With a shaky hand, she opened the door and closed it behind her, then crossed the darkened sitting room to the open bedroom door.

"Seven and a half minutes, Willow." The combination of teasing and menace in Angel's voice hit her like a sledgehammer to the stomach, but she continued across the room and stepped through the door.

Reclining nude on his side on the massive bed and cradling his head in one hand, Angel smirked up at her. "Should I punish you for tardiness? Add to the bruises on your ass? You like pain, little girl?"

Willow couldn't have answered if she had wanted--her tongue was as knotted as her stomach--but she was able to untie the robe and slip it down her arms, baring her pale body to his hungry gaze.

Angel's eyes narrowed and the blood in his body rushed to his groin, swelling his cock. "You've put on curves in the last year. I approve."

A flash of irrational anger hit Willow and she blurted out, "I didn't do it for your benefit," wanting to slap the smug look off his face.

Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, Angel rose to his feet and snagged her arm, yanking her against his hard body. "It's amazing what fucking will do to a girl." His free hand brushed wet hair from her cheek, his fingers stroking the fine lines of her face. "Where once was a pale and colorless mouse, now is a vibrant and beautiful woman..."

Surprised at the compliment, Willow frowned up at him, and he gave her back what was about as close to a genuine smile as she had ever seen him give anyone but Buffy.

"What? Do you think I'm doing this only out of anger? Or a need for revenge or just because I'm pissed off? Do you think I only want you because you love Spike?"

"All of the above?" she squeaked a bit breathlessly as his thumb brushed delicately over the sensitive spot behind her ear.

"We are family, Willow. Whether you like it or not, even without your promise to me, you became mine when you bonded with my childe."

"It was an accident." Her hands, caught between their bodies, formed fists against his chest, but she didn't hit him, only remained still, waiting to see what he wanted from her.

"It doesn't matter." Lowering his head, Angel placed a soft kiss on that spot behind her ear. A shiver of pleasure went through Willow and she whimpered almost soundlessly. "Your body knows, it's only your mind that fights the truth." Another kiss landed, and his tongue swept up the lobe. "I should have done this months ago..."

"Why didn't you?" popped from her mouth, startling them both.

Angel pulled back slightly and gazed down at her, a puzzled frown on his face. "Too much hassle," he finally grumbled. "Dealing with Spike's whining and..."

"Buffy?" she asked perceptively, then cringed, waiting for his response.

He growled wordlessly, his eyes darkening with anger, which made her pale in another burst of fear. As his hands cupped her bottom, grinding her against his erection, Willow squeaked and pressed her fists harder against his chest.

Effortlessly, Angel picked her up and tossed her onto the bed, following her down and pinning her to the mattress. As he hovered over her, straddling her trembling legs, he sneered, "She is nothing to me."

"Liar," Willow whispered before she could stop herself.

Angel caught her chin before she could roll her head, forcing her to look at him. "What did you say?"

"She means something to you or you would have killed her long ago."

"Do you *want* to die, Willow?" he asked, amazed at her daring.

"No, but I'm tired of tiptoeing around you." A sudden, surprising anger flowed through her, driving away the fear, and she reached up and shoved at his shoulders. "You're just a big bully."

Laughter burst from Angel, and he sat back on his heels. Willow looked up at him hesitantly, raising up on her elbows, trying to judge his sudden change of mood.

"You are amazing. You'll make an excellent vampiress."

"Can't I just make an amazing human?"

He continued to laugh.

*****

From the covered garage, Spike sprinted across the lawn, ignoring the tendrils of smoke rising from the jacket over his head. Buffy was on his heels as they charged into the mansion and straight up the stairs. Flinging open the door to his room, Spike growled helplessly.

Buffy pushed past him, then spun around, desperately demanding, "Where are they?"

Stilling, Spike closed his eyes and extended his other senses.

He could hear his sire laughing and agony squeezed his chest. "Angel's room," he managed to gasp out before staggering across the hall.

Again, Buffy pushed past him, her mind racing with possibilities, each one worse than the one before. Running into Angel's bedroom, she came to a screeching halt at the sight of her lover crouched over her best friend on that big bed.

The laughter faded quickly and Angel sighed heavily. "Good morning, lover."

"Get off her," Buffy choked out, hatred strangling her.

Hearing Buffy's voice, Willow tried to scramble from beneath Angel, and managed to free one leg to kick at him.

Rolling his eyes, Angel grabbed her foot and kissed it, then slid from the bed to face the Slayer.

Buffy's face reflected every conflicted emotion she felt. Willow was alive, so there was intense relief, but there was also a hint of jealousy. There was something between Angel and Willow that Buffy couldn't compete with.

And that brought a deep sorrow.

But, mostly, she felt anger and hatred and all of it was focused on the dark vampire who stood nonchalantly nude in front of her, still aroused.

"You're interrupting, Buff, though you're welcome to join us..."

"I should kill you," she threatened, her voice dark and low.

Angel smirked. "Yes, why don't you do that, lover. You've done so well in the past." He briefly glanced past the furious blonde girl to see the stricken countenance of his childe in the doorway. "I take it I have you to thank for her appearance, Spike."

Spike swallowed hard, his gaze boring into Willow as she sat naked on the end of the bed, her knees tucked up to her chin, her arms wrapped around her calves. As she shifted restlessly, the clean scent of soap and Willow wafted towards him, and he felt himself relax slightly.

Only to stiffen again at the next words from his sire. "What? Did you think I'd let *her* stop me from claiming what's mine, Spikey? You ran to the Slayer for nothing, boy."

"You do this, Angel, and it's over between us," Buffy threatened. "Even if I have to leave town to get away from you, it's over." Her voice began to rise with her fury. "I've put up with so much shit from you. You obviously care nothing for me, yet I've let you beat me and fuck me and hurt me. I've let you take my best friend, my dearest friend, from me, and you've done it for kicks. You don't even hurt me to *hurt* me. You son of a bitch."

He caught her hand before it could connect with his cheek, and growled, his voice low, "Don't push this, Buffy."

"Why? What the fuck do I care? *Why* should I care what you want? You don't care what I want," she scoffed, pulling her hand free. Glancing briefly down, she wrapped her hand around his erection, squeezing until he growled again. "This is what you care about. *This* is what you think with, after all. You want to fuck, and you're bored with Dru and Spike and your minions, so you turn to Willow."

"No more," she swore, twisting his cock in his hand, until he grabbed her shoulders and shook her.

"Let go, bitch!"

"Make me," she grinned with sadistic glee.

Watching silently, Willow smiled slightly to herself, and looked at Spike. Instead of an answering smile, he gave her a look of sorrow and fear, and it wiped the spark of joy from her.

Slowly she uncurled her body and rose to her feet, then took the step necessary to bring her to Buffy. She caught the blonde girl's wrist and shook her head.

"No."

Buffy stared at Willow as if she'd suddenly grown two heads, but her hand fell away from Angel, who gasped in pain.

Recovering quickly, he growled in anger and reached for Buffy, only to find Willow between them, turning to face him, her face as calm as her voice.

"It doesn't matter why he's doing this," she addressed Buffy, though her eyes met Angel's, "It's his right."

"I don't accept that," Buffy blurted out.

"Willow's right, Slayer," Spike added bleakly, running a tired hand over his aching yet empty chest. "I shouldn't have gone to fetch you."

Buffy spun on him, shocked. "You'll just let him do this?"

"I don't have a choice."

"Good boy," Angel said, smirking again.

Disgusted with the younger vampire's shift in attitude, Buffy turned her back on him and glared past her best friend to her lover. "It doesn't matter. I'm here now, and if you do this, I'm out of here for good, *lover*."

That wiped the sneer off Angel's face. "Don't threaten me."

"Or what? You'll beat me up? You'll rape Willow? Gee, been there, doing that!"

"Buffy, stop," Willow whispered, her heart in her throat.

"I can't believe you're going along with this, Will."

"Me either," the redhead murmured, then looked up into the dark eyes of her lover's sire. "I don't want to."

Buffy started to protest, then shut her mouth, feeling suddenly helpless and exhausted.

Spike turned to leave, unable to watch his sire touching Willow.

Angel glowered at Willow, then Buffy, then growled and stomped over to the dresser. Picking up a pack of cigarettes, he lit one, and said, "Well, now *I'm* not in the mood."

Relief flooded Willow, as Buffy raised confused eyes to him.

"I don't get it."

"Out, all of you," Angel ordered, waving to the door with his cigarette.

Not wanting Buffy to push the reasons behind Angel's sudden change of heart, Spike snagged her arm and steered her to the door. "Let's get you out of here, Slayer, before some minion stumbles across you."

Grabbing her robe, Willow ran after them, wrapping the silk around herself. At the door to the bedroom, she hesitantly turned and looked back at Angel.

He appeared to be brooding, but he shot her such a look of anger and frustration, that she fled after Spike, her heart pounding in her chest.

Drusilla stood in the doorway to Spike's room, holding Willow's clothes, a sad smile on her face. Grabbing them, Willow mumbled a goodbye as Spike took her arm in his free hand and propelled her towards the steps, Buffy leading the way.

As Buffy dashed into the sun that had broken from the clouds while they had been inside, Willow hung back, gazing up at her lover.

"I love you, Willow," Spike murmured, brushing her lips with his before pushing her out the door.

"I love you, too," she got out, before the heavy door slammed shut, blocking out the deadly sunshine.

Turning on the front stoop, suddenly at a loss, Willow watched Buffy pace.

"Get dressed. Let's get out of here."

"Buffy..."

The blonde shook her head, then stopped pacing, a hesitant smile on her face. "He does care, doesn't he?"

"Do you want that?"

The smile fled, confusion filling Buffy's eyes, before she dropped them to the gravel path. "I don't know..."

Concerned and confused, Willow pulled on her clothes and stuffed her feet into her shoes, then folded her robe over her arm. She doubted she'd be coming back to the mansion anytime soon, so she might as well take it with her.

"Did he hurt you?" Buffy finally asked.

Willow shook her head and hugged her friend. "No. I'm fine. I...I'm not even sure if he would have gone through with it."

"Why do you think that?"

Shrugging, the redhead pulled back and took Buffy's hand for the long walk home. "I don't know. Just a feeling." Their joined hands swung a bit as they walked.

As they reached the end of the long driveway and turned out of the gates, both girls stumbled to a stop.

A smirk on her face, her body clothed in leather, Faith leaned against the stone wall surrounding the mansion.

"So, you spend a lot of time in the master vampire's lair, B?"

Willow and Buffy stopped breathing as panic filled them.

End Trials: Lambs to the Slaughter


	8. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Faith discovers Buffy and Willow in the vampires' lair and demands to know the truth. After all is revealed to Faith, Buffy confesses her lifestory to her mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally published in two chapters on May 27 and June 14, 2001. It's rated PG14 for angst and language. At the end of the second chapter the original notes were: Thanks for reading the boring exposition; smut a'coming (and an actual appearance by the so-called stars of the series!)

"See, I had this dream, girls," Faith began, pushing herself away from the wall she leaned against. "In it, Buffy, the all powerful wonder-Slayer is boinking a creature of the night. And not just any creature of the night, but the worst one out there. The Master of Sunnydale."

Buffy paled even more, her fingers tightening around Willow's.

"So, since we all know where your supposedly former boytoy lives, I came here to scope the place out," the other Slayer continued, her eyes narrowing. "I never expected to find you here, either of you."

"We can explain," Buffy said a bit feebly.

"You can?" Faith mocked. "What? You're thralls of the king vamp? Vampire wannabes? He threaten your families, your friends if you didn't put out for him? You entertain his whole merry band?"

"You don't know anything," Willow snapped icily. "How dare you judge us."

"Nasty bruise forming on your neck." Faith's hand shot forward and snagged the collar, dragging it down. She smirked. "And matching bite marks." As she released the collar, she turned that look on Buffy who stood still and quiet, her eyes empty. "Should I examine you for bites, too?"

"He doesn't bite me," Buffy finally whispered, her voice as empty as her eyes.

"Buffy, she doesn't deserve an explanation. She has no right to question what we do."

"Oh really?" The brunette Slayer crossed her arms over her breasts and glared at her now trembling counterpart. "Maybe I don't have any say in what you do, Willow. You want to fuck a vampire and get yourself turned or just plain dead, what do I care? But, her?" She jerked a thumb towards Buffy. "She's betrayed us all."

Buffy whimpered and Willow snapped. "Shut up! You don't know anything about her, what she's gone through, what she does to survive day to day."

"Oh, I think that's pretty obvious."

Willow's hand cracked across that smirk and Faith's eyes widened in shock. As the suddenly enraged Slayer lunged at the redhead, Buffy stepped between them and shoved Faith backwards.

"Leave her alone, Faith. Your beef is with me."

The anger turned into a righteous sneer. "I don't have to do anything a vampire's whore tells me to do."

"Don't call her that." Wrapping her arm around Buffy's trembling shoulder, Willow glared at Faith. "You don't know anything about us."

"Then tell me."

*****

Fifteen minutes later all three young women sat in Willow's living room. Willow was drinking orange juice and eating a candy bar to counteract blood loss, and the other two were sipping on diet cokes.

"So, Liam is really Angel."

Buffy nodded.

"And you never stopped boinking him."

"No, I did stop." Blushing, Buffy continued haltingly, "For a couple of weeks. He never made a serious attempt to kill me after the first few days after he lost his soul. We met on Valentine's Day in a cemetery, and I was lonely and..."

"He could have killed you."

"For some reason I trusted he wouldn't even try. He wanted me. He's always...wanted me." Setting her can aside, Buffy closed her eyes against the sorrow welling up in her.

"He's a demon." Faith made a face. "How can you even bear to let him touch you."

"That was never a problem," the blonde whispered back. "He always had a demon, it was just tempered by a soul. Now it's not tempered by anything."

"Except for the fact that he's head over heels over you," Willow added.

Buffy snorted.

Faith was appalled. "Demons can't love."

"Oh really?" the redhead drawled.

Comprehension filled the brunette Slayer's eyes. "William?" At Willow's nod, she continued. "But...but, you're engaged to him?"

"Because I love him. I wouldn't get engaged to someone just for mind-blowing sex."

"So, the bites were made by him?"

"Who'd you think they were made by?"

"Angel."

"Not if I can help it," Willow answered back forcefully.

"I don't get this at all," Faith stated, shaking her head. "I've seen William with you. The guy is nuts about you. His love for you shines out of him. But, I was taught that vampires couldn't love."

"You were taught wrong," Willow replied. "Of course the Watchers would teach their Slayers that demons and vampires are dark and evil creatures, incapable of any of the finer emotions. It's easier to kill them that way. It's a lot harder when you find out they weep during La Boehme, paint pictures of beautiful sunsets, still mourn sisters long dead."

"Every vampire I've staked has been single-mindedly after one thing--blood."

"There's a reason for that, too," Buffy said softly. "Remember when I told you about the difference between childer and minions? That's the big one. Minions are much more mindless. They follow orders, they maim and destroy and spend most of their time hunting for blood. They need more because their demons are weaker."

"A vampire childe retains the complete personality of the person it was," Willow continued. "William was the son of an English nobleman, educated, witty, a lover of beautiful things. Spike remains all that."

"Spike? William is Spike?" Faith gaped.

Willow smiled. "Yeah. Did I fail to mention that?"

"Yeah, you did. He's Angel's second in command."

"And favored childe."

"You're going to get yourself killed, you know," Faith replied flatly.

"Yeah, I know." Willow's eyes never wavered from the confused brunette.

*****

Several hours later, the whole story was out and Faith was pacing, muttering about bonds and sex and secrets and promises.

"All my recent dreams are making sense now. All those images of you as a vampire, Willow." The brunette slayer shook her head. "This is insane, all of it. And Giles knows?" She continued, not waiting for the answer she already knew. "Wesley will go ballistic."

"You can't tell him, Faith. You can't tell anyone. Angel wanted to kill you when you came to town. If this all comes out and the Watchers Council goes after me, he *will* kill you all."

Faith snorted. "Let him try. He's just another vampire."

"Yeah, you're stronger than him, but you're not as smart. You've never faced anything like him," Buffy retorted. "He'll throw every vampire in this town at you until you're so worn down you'll beg him for death." She glanced at Willow who lounged on the couch watching the two Slayers face off. "The only reason I survived Spike's attacks on me were that they were impulsive. Angel is *never* impulsive."

"She's right, Faith. Angel has the means to bring this town to the ground. He just never has employed them--well, not since the Judge--because of his feelings for Buffy. If she's gone..."

"He doesn't love me, Willow."

Willow rolled her eyes. "Fine, he's obsessed with you, whatever. He'll still destroy everything if you're dead."

Buffy nodded. "True."

"I'm still not convinced that I can't take him," Faith protested. "I've fought lots of baddies, even a couple vampire masters."

"Angel is special. I can't explain it, Faith. I just know how incredibly deadly he is."

Faith sighed heavily and sank down into a chair. "We came here to find out why you weren't doing your job. You had pretty much convinced us that you were and now this."

"Faith, that's not why you were brought here," Buffy began. She launched into an explanation of her sudden weakness, her birthday, and the upcoming test.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Willow cried, shocked.

"Kind of busy rescuing you this morning."

Faith's brow furrowed in puzzlement. "I turned eighteen three months ago and I never faced this test."

"Giles says they haven't used it in about a hundred years. We believe that they expect I won't survive. It's their way of getting rid of me."

Willow jumped to her feet. "What? Those bastards! And Angel didn't go and rip out their spleens and feed them to them?"

"Only because I convinced him not to."

"So, that was all that arena and vampire stuff in last night's dream?" Faith asked. "But, Angel was that vampire."

"Symbolism, I'm sure. Giles said the vampire was shipped in from England, a test subject of the Watchers Council."

"And what was that with your mom?"

Buffy's shoulders slumped. "My mom. I was going to tell her everything this morning, but Spike was there waiting for me when I woke up."

"Are you still going to tell her?" Willow asked.

"I don't know. I think...I think it's time."

"So, this test thing is tomorrow night. What are you going to do?"

Buffy looked at Faith and shook her head slowly. "I have no idea."

*****

An hour later, after receiving Faith's promise not to tell what she knew, Buffy let herself into her house.

"Buffy? That you? Did you get your project done?" her mom called from the kitchen.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Buffy walked into the kitchen where Joyce was washing her lunch dishes.

"Want a sandwich?"

"I'm not hungry."

Frowning, Joyce dried her hands. "You look like you're losing weight, Buffy. You're not dieting are you?"

"No, I just don't have much of an appetite." She reached into the fridge for a diet coke, and took a deep breath before turning to face her mother. "We need to talk."

"About college?"

"No, about...my life."

Joyce's smile turned to a concerned frown. "Is something wrong? Are you sick?"

"No, I'm not sick. I'm... You probably should sit down." Buffy led the way into the sitting room, taking a seat on the couch. Joyce sat in a rocker, leaning forward, her fingers clasped together.

Popping the top on the can, Buffy took a sip, then set it on a coaster before taking another deep breath. "There's something I've been keeping from you for the last three years. Something really big."

"Buffy?"

"This is going to sound insane, I know that, and right now it's pretty much impossible for me to prove, but..." One more deep breath and Buffy blurted, "I'm a vampire slayer."

Joyce stared blankly at her.

Buffy waited nearly five minutes for her mother to react, then sighed heavily and tried again. "Did you hear me, mom? I'm a vampire slayer."

Joyce swallowed visibly and tightly clasped her shaking hands together. "I heard you," she finally managed to whisper. "I don't understand..."

"I know, mom," Buffy replied gently, then began to explain. Merrick and Pike and the gym burning down. Sunnydale and Giles...

"Mr. Giles? That nice librarian who is always so concerned about you?"

"Now you know why." Buffy continued, avoiding the subject of Angel for the moment, mentioning the Master and their climactic battle.

"You died?" Joyce cried, horrified.

"Just for a minute, mom," Buffy soothed. "But, it was enough to activate the next slayer, Kendra."

"I remember Kendra. You said she was an exchange student."

Buffy winced at the accusation in her mother's voice. "I'm sorry, mom, I hedged on the truth about a lot of things."

"Lied," Joyce said flatly, her jaw tightening.

"Okay, lied. What would you have done if I'd told you three years ago?"

"Called a doctor, the same thing I'm thinking of doing now."

"Mom, please. I know this is hard to understand. Believe me, I know how hard it is, but I am a vampire slayer."

Joyce started to rise to her feet. "I think you're ill, Buffy, and need help."

"Mom," Buffy yelled in exasperation. "How can you be so blind? Do you really think I'm just a juvenile delinquent? That I'm constantly getting into fights? What about the blood stains on my clothes? The acid slime burns? The endless supply of calcium dust? How can you just ignore all that? Mom, you got brain sucked by a parasite and boyfriend Ted was a homicidal robot!"

"What?" Joyce fell back into her seat, gaping at her daughter.

"You moved us to the only semi-active hellmouth in the world. It attracts the weird and supernatural."

"I don't believe in any of that," Joyce mumbled, paling as the implications began to sink in.

"This town has an extraordinarily high per capita death rate, the majority of them unexplained or by neck wounds of unknown origins or wild dogs. How many packs of wild dogs have you seen roaming the streets of Sunnydale?" Buffy watched her mother take several shuddering breaths.

"Why are you telling me this now?"

"Do you believe me?"

"...I don't know."

Leaning back into the corner of the couch, Buffy sighed softly and continued more calmly, "My eighteenth birthday is tomorrow, and there's this test of my abilities. I think I'm supposed to fail, and Faith is here to replace me."

"Faith? That girl you brought to dinner last week? She's a slayer?"

"Uh huh."

Joyce's brown furrowed as she frowned. "But, what happened to Kendra?"

"She died," Buffy replied softly. "And Faith was called. There aren't supposed to be two slayers. I'm an anomaly."

Shaking her head in confusion, Joyce asked again, "Why are you telling me this now?"

"Because I have prophetic dreams and in a recent dream you were involved. It was set in an arena and I jumped to the conclusion that it had something to do with the tests. I had to tell you, to prepare you, just in case."

"Just in case what?"

"Something happens to you."

"Buffy, you just said you think you're supposed to fail this test. What does that mean?"

Buffy gave her a pointed look and Joyce paled even more, then her eyes flashed with anger. "No way. We'll leave town today."

"It won't matter, mom. The Council is extremely powerful and has its fingers into everything. They'd find us and probably just execute me."

Joyce gasped in shock and rising anger. "And you work for these people?"

Watching her mom getting infuriated on her behalf sent relief flooding through Buffy and she felt her lips twitch into a slight smile. "Technically. Mostly, I work for the world."

"This...this is so hard to believe, Buffy."

"I know, mom. I'm just...I'm glad I'm finally telling you."

"But, there's more, isn't there," Joyce said shrewdly.

"Yeah."

*****

Twenty minutes later, Buffy had presented Joyce with a much abridged version of her relationship with Angel. Joyce was obviously struggling with all the facts and implications, but she seemed to believe what Buffy told her. Buffy figured her mom was finding it was easier just to accept everything and deal with it from there. At least there was no more mention of doctors.

"You're dating a vampire. But, aren't you supposed to be killing them?"

"Which is why the Council sent Faith and her Watcher here. They don't know I'm still involved with Angel. Well, Faith found out this morning, but Wesley and the Council don't know. They just think I'm a failure for not being able to kill him."

"How can you..." Joyce took a deep, shuddering breath. "I understand how you could love him with a soul. I remember him from that brief encounter a couple of years ago. He was very handsome and polite and rather smoldering. But..."

"He's still very handsome, but that's about it, I know, mom." Buffy pulled her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her knees. "There's something between us, something very strong and very real, " she said, her voice small and soft.

"And he...a year ago tomorrow you and he...and he lost his soul. Oh, darling, you must have been so traumatized, so scared. I thought your depression was due to your father not showing up, but really it was..." Tears sparkled in Joyce's eyes and she joined Buffy on the couch, pulling her daughter into her arms.

Suddenly Buffy was crying as well, clinging to her mother. "I wanted to talk to you about it so bad."

*****

Another fifteen minutes of crying and soothing, and Buffy pulled back, wiping her reddened eyes with the backs of her hands. Joyce reached for a Kleenex and blew her nose, then sat back tiredly.

"This is all still so...far fetched."

"I know."

"But, your crying, that was real. So, I have to believe..."

Buffy gave her mother a quavery smile. "It's hard, I know. You're getting everything tossed at you at once. Giles just found out last summer about my still seeing Angel and he still isn't taking it well."

"I can understand that. You're dating a soulless creature who kills people to survive."

Even though Joyce was simply stating the facts, Buffy squirmed and ducked her head. "Yeah, I know."

"What do your friends think?"

"That I'm nuts."

Joyce startled at a thought. "Are your friends...human?"

"Oh, yeah. Well, except for one. I've never really thought of him that way, but I think friend applies." At her mom's expectant look, Buffy smiled slightly and continued, "William, the guy from this morning."

"And, what is he?"

"Vampire."

Joyce's eyes widened in shock. "But, he seemed like such a nice young man."

Buffy grinned.

"How can something soulless be so polite?"

"Vampires retain a lot of the personality of the human they possess, but they don't have a soul to temper their actions. What they're really lacking is a conscience, but Spike..."

"Spike?" Joyce interrupted.

"He hates William."

"And why does he go by Spike?"

"Something about impaling people with railroad spikes a century ago." At Joyce's gasp of distress, Buffy realized how blase that had sounded. "Mom, I'm sorry. It's just so normal for me to accept their pasts and even what they do now. Spike no longer kills. He's found a new conscience in Willow."

"Willow?"

"They've been dating now for nearly a year."

"Sharon must be apoplectic!"

"Actually, she likes him. Of course, she doesn't know he's a vampire. She just thinks that he's this English poet type or something. And Spike *is* very intelligent and very loving."

"How can you love without a soul?"

"I don't know," Buffy replied soberly. "But, it's so obvious he does. And if he does...I have to believe that Angel can as well."

"Do they know each other?"

Buffy nearly choked at that innocent question. "Um, yeah. Angel's Spike's sire. He made him. Spike was the master of Sunnydale before Angel lost his soul and took over. That's all really complicated and if you want to know more about vampires and the history of those here in Sunnydale, I'm sure Giles could help you or give you one of his many books."

"Yes, I do want to talk to Mr. Giles. He has a lot to answer for."

"Mom," Buffy protested. "None of this is Giles' fault. He's just doing his job and doing it very well, at that."

"Then this Council. I want to talk to them about how they make babies fight demons."

"Mom, please, there's nothing you can do. I'm the Slayer. It's what I was born to do. I don't know why we start out so young, probably because young minds and bodies are malleable, but you can't push it with the Council. They can take me away from you."

At that, Joyce was truly horrified, but still denied the truth. "Impossible."

Buffy shook her head. "Very possible. Almost all potential slayers are taken from their parents at a young age, some perfectly legitimately, like Kendra, whose parents felt honored to give her to the council, others not so, like Faith, whose mother was paid to give her up. Others..." Buffy shrugged ruefully.

Joyce gaped at her daughter. "No one ever came to us."

"I slipped through the cracks, so to speak. Merrick refused to take me from you when he found me, but the threat has always been there. If I didn't do my duty, if you interfered, if the secret got out..."

"And you've just told me all your secrets."

"I don't care anymore. The Council wants me dead *because* I have never played by their rules. I doubt they'd even be surprised to find out about Angel, but that would be the final nail in my coffin."

Groaning softly, Joyce rose and began to pace, her fingers fidgeting with the hem of her tunic top. "I believe you, Buffy, but this is all very hard to take in, you understand?"

"Yeah, I do. It's okay. Just let it sink in."

"You could have been killed. You *were* killed." She raised stricken eyes to her daughter. "You risk your life every night."

"But, I'm built for that. I'm stronger, faster. I heal quicker. And my training is superior. Mom, I can take care of myself."

"Then why are you so worried about these tests tomorrow?"

*****

Joyce didn't take her daughter's drug-induced lack of strength very well either, but overall Buffy was impressed that her mom was handling any of the revelations. They had talked for nearly another hour, then Buffy had retired to her room to try to nap. Her mind was too busy, though. Too many thoughts and concerns and fears.

She had no idea how she was going to survive the next night.

End Trials: Revelations


	9. Epiphany

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Spike and Willow deal with their fears in their own way, Angel comforts Buffy, and Drusilla and the moon create the impetus he needs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally published in two chapters on June 29 and August 5, 2001. I don't think I realized that June 29, 2001 was the third anniversary of series, which, yes, means that today is the fifteenth! anniversary. The original dedication was: To Margot for giving me a glimpse of the future and supporting my writing and loving Buffy and Angel. Which she still does. :)
> 
> Original notes for the second part: Having no idea where to go next, I began with a vague idea of Dru dancing in a cemetery and just started writing. This is what happened. *shrug*
> 
> This chapter NC17 for graphic sex and BDSM.

Over his wine glass, Spike stared at Willow as she managed to both eat spaghetti and not talk with her mouth full, yet spill a wild tale as they sat in the sparsely furnished dining room of his apartment.

"And the new Slayer didn't try to stake you both?" Spike asked, then took a sip of his wine, disturbed to find his hand trembling.

"No. She calmed down and accepted."

"Or she was playing you both." His lips tightened into a frown.

Willow shook her head and wiped her mouth with her napkin. "I don't think so. She seems very open."

"'Seems' possibly being the key word," he grumbled. "This is all we need."

"It gets worse."

Spike nearly choked on his wine as Willow filled him in on Buffy's weakness and the trial.

"And Angelus is really standing behind her?"

"He's furious about the whole thing," Willow confirmed. "I think Dru's right. He really does love Buffy."

"And he'd rather slit his own throat than admit it," Spike mused, pouring himself another glass of Cabernet. "Or take it out on all of us."

Willow winced at the pain on her lover's face. She had purposefully avoided talking of the other events of the early morning, had tried not to think about what had nearly happened between her and Angel. It was so much easier that way.

But, it was also long past time to speak of the future.

"He didn't hurt me, Spike," she murmured, setting aside her fork as her appetite fled.

Spike's eyebrows cocked and he took another long sip of wine. "He would have."

"No, I don't think so." Willow took a deep breath before continuing. "I think he wants me to enjoy it."

"He still wants you, Willow, and I can barely stand that," her lover growled. Pushing his chair away from the table, he rose and paced. "I hate that. I hate that he has the right to you, and I don't have a clue what stopped him this morning."

"Buffy."

He shook his head scornfully. "He may love her, but in his denial he'll do anything to push her away."

"I don't think so any more, Spike. I think this morning may have been the turning point. He may have finally realized just how far he can push things before Buffy will leave him. As long as I stay out of his way, I don't think he'll pursue me."

"Until he's ready to turn you," Spike growled in frustration.

"You could turn me first."

Coming to a screeching halt, Spike spun to face her, jaw dropping in shock.

"I've been thinking about it a lot recently. I'm eighteen, an adult now, probably just about as physically mature as I'm going to get. There's nothing stopping him, except I think he knows that Buffy will leave him. But, there's no guarantee that Buffy will survive tomorrow night or next week."

"If she dies, he'll come for you in the next heartbeat," Spike whispered sadly, then slowly shook himself. "I can't go against him like that, luv. He wants you as his own childe. I don't dare take that from him. He might very well kill us both. Plus..." His voice died away and he sank down into the chair across from her.

Willow reached across the table and took his hand, squeezing it gently. "You don't want me to become a vampire."

"No," he choked out.

"Why? You're a vampire and you're kind and loving and generous..."

"To you," he interrupted. "Yes, I love you and because of you, I feel varying levels of friendship towards those you love, but I couldn't give a rat's ass for every other human in the world. That beauty inside you that delights in the beat of a butterfly's wings, the coo of a dove, the sun breaking through rain filled clouds...All that would be gone. There's no guarantee that you would love me, but, even if you did, your demon would be young and hungry for evil. Mine has been tempered by two hundred years of living amongst humans."

He sighed heavily and finished, "Yours would be wild and wicked and a killer."

Willow nodded sadly. "I don't want to be turned, but I thought...If I could be yours rather than his..."

"I know, luv."

"Spike? Promise me one thing." When he nodded, she continued, her voice full of sorrow and fear. "Don't let me kill my family and friends."

"If it's in my power to stop you, I will, but Angelus may have other ideas."

Nodding again, this time in understanding, Willow sighed softly. "This could be my last night alive."

Spike's eyes filled with determination. "And I, for one, don't want to dwell on that anymore. I want to spend several hours worshiping you with my mouth and hands."

Willow shivered as a bolt of anticipation charged through her. "Sounds lovely."

Rising, he pulled her with him, then swept her into his arms.

*****

Buffy slowly awakened from her nap and blinked open her eyes. Yelping, she sat up and nearly rolled off the bed. "Don't do that!"

Angel cocked one eyebrow and rose from her desk chair to sit next to her on the bed. "Do what?"

"Be here," she replied, a bit groggy. Rubbing her temples, she leaned back against the headboard. "What *are* you doing here?"

"Why wouldn't I be here?" Angel shrugged his black silk clad shoulders and flashed her a wicked grin. "You look so cute all sleepy, even when you drool."

"I do not drool," Buffy denied, swiping at the corners of her mouth.

"If you say so, lover. So, what do you have planned for tonight?" he asked conversationally.

"Uh, patrol I guess."

Angel's grin turned immediately into a foreboding frown. "I don't think so. In your weakened condition, you couldn't hurt a fruit fly."

Buffy started to argue, then just sighed, her shoulders slumping in resignation. "Great, that just gives the Council another reason to want me dead." Angel growled, but she ignored him and rose to her feet. "I'll be back in a minute."

After using the restroom and brushing her hair and teeth, Buffy headed downstairs. She found her mom sitting on the couch staring blankly at a sitcom on the television. A barely touched pizza sat in its box on the coffee table.

"Um, hi."

Joyce looked up, startled, then tried to smile. "Good evening, sleepy head. I ordered pizza."

"How are you doing?"

"Okay," Joyce sighed. "It's still all very hard to grasp."

"Yeah, I know." Picking up a plate, Buffy put a couple pieces of supreme pizza on it. "I've got a lot of thinking to do, too, so I think I'll eat upstairs. That okay?"

"Oh, sure." As Buffy turned to the stairs, Joyce continued, "Buffy? I'd like to talk to Mr. Giles tomorrow."

"Okay, I'll arrange it." Taking the stairs two at a time, Buffy returned to her room.

*****

Willow squirmed in pleasure, sinking deeper into the soft bedding, as Spike trailed his cool tongue down her spine. When he placed a soft kiss at the sensitive base, she squealed and arched against his mouth.

Twenty minutes before, he had slowly removed her clothing and urged her onto her stomach. Since then he had been torturing her with his mouth and hands, kissing and touching her entire back from nape to toes.

The scent of her arousal was driving him crazy, and Spike ran kisses over her quivering bottom as his hands parted her thighs. Settling between them, he lifted her slightly and darted his tongue into the wet heat of her cleft.

"Spike," Willow wailed into the pillow she clutched. Inarticulate moans poured from her as his tongue thrust inside her. As one hand curved her towards his mouth, the other brushed through the wet curls and found her swollen clitoris. Spike caressed it gently, feeling the shudders going through her and tasting her desire.

"Please, please, please," she begged, her fists clenching around the pillow.

His hands parting her plump bottom, Spike slid his tongue up to her puckered rosette. He circled it once, twice, and as Willow's heart pounded in his ears, he pushed inside.

The sound muffled by cotton and feathers, Willow screamed and shattered into orgasm.

As she collapsed limply beneath him, Spike rose to his knees and reached for the bottle of lube on the night stand.

*****

Angel lounged on Buffy's bed, flipping through a copy of Vogue. He glanced up at her, then nodded approvingly to the plate of food. "Eat all that and I'll give you a present."

"A present?" Buffy asked skeptically. "And what kind of present would that be?" She closed and locked the door behind her, then settled cross legged on the end of the bed.

Angel grinned wolfishly at her. "You'll get to come first."

Rolling her eyes, Buffy picked up a piece of pizza and took a bite.

"I'd say that's quite the magnanimous gesture after the abominable way you treated me this morning, " he continued.

"Abominable? Yeah, whatever." She took another big bite, ignoring his grin.

Turning the magazine around, Angel pointed to a skimpy thong swimsuit on a stick figure model. "Want me to get you one of these?"

"What? The model?" She grinned around her pizza.

"Ha ha. She's an unattractive beanpole. No, I meant the sexy swimsuit. I'm having a pool dug this Spring."

"Have you ever tried to wear one of those things for long? They totally ride up your butt."

"Nice image." Tearing the page from the magazine, he folded it and put it in his back pocket, then went back to browsing as she ate.

*****

Spike rolled Willow onto her back and smiled down into her flushed face and glazed eyes. "More?"

"Uh huh," she managed to whimper.

Kneeling between her spread legs, he poured lube into the palm of one hand, then liberally coated his erection. Catching her behind the knees, he pushed her legs up so that her heels rested on his shoulders. As she whimpered his name, he pressed one slick finger into her tight passage. The muscles snapped around it, but he quickly loosened her up before adding a second finger.

"Please," she drew out the word, her eyes falling shut and her head arching into the pillow as pleasure shot through her.

Slowly Spike withdrew his fingers, only to replace them with the head of his cock. Taking a hold of her ankles, he gradually pushed past the resistance, filling her as she moaned and stuttered his name over and over.

Her toes clenched against his cheeks and he turned his head, brushing his mouth over her instep.

Willow howled and dug her fingers into the comforter beneath her. "Please, please, please!"

Spike began to thrust, gently at first, then harder as she rose to meet him, her body shaking and flushed red with lust. Angling over her, he propped himself up on one hand, using the other to find her clit and run his thumb back and forth across it. A long hiss broke from her and she arched towards his hand, driving his cock deeper.

Groaning as her inner muscles clenched and pulled on his throbbing cock, Spike thrust faster, his thumb slipping around the sensitive hood of her clit, as his fingers drove into her dripping passage.

Feeling him filling both parts of her body, Willow gave a strangled cry and bucked wildly, arching her entire back off the bed. As he watched the pleasure flow across her features, Spike growled and surrendered his control, pumping madly as he climaxed.

His orgasm triggered her second and Willow writhed and moaned beneath him as release snapped through her.

Together they collapsed, still joined, and tenderly kissed.

"I love you," Spike murmured. "Forever and always."

"I love you, too," Willow replied, brushing her lips across his cheek.

Slowly Spike rolled onto his back, tugging her with him. As she pillowed her head on his shoulder, he said with a smile, "When you've recovered, I have dessert waiting."

"Chocolate?" she perked a bit.

"Of course."

"Um..." Willow snuggled closer, all her thoughts on pleasure and chocolate.

*****

After finishing the second slice of pizza, Buffy drained a bottle of water, then set the plate and plastic bottle on her dresser. Rising to her feet, she stretched, then pulled her t-shirt over her head.

"Good thing you're not really allergic to garlic."

Angel arched a brow and dropped the magazine on the floor. "So, we're going to ignore this morning?"

A wave of irritation rolled through her and Buffy frowned. "Do you *really* want to talk about it?"

"No, but you usually want to hammer everything to dust, so I've just been waiting..." He frowned, but his eyes gleamed with appreciation as she skimmed the jogging pants down her legs. At the sight of her in a pair of simple white bikinis and matching sports bra, his cock leapt to attention, pressing painfully against his zipper. "C'mere."

Grinning at the power she had over him, even if it was only in this small arena, Buffy whipped the bra over her head and put one knee on the bed. Angel grabbed her arms and flung her beneath him, his knee sliding between hers, parting them.

"Impatient," she murmured, then moaned softly as his mouth fastened around one nipple. Reaching out, she fumbled with her radio until it came on, something sappy and romantic filling the air. Her hands moved to the front of his shirt and she quickly unfastened the buttons, then tugged the silk down his arms.

Angel shrugged from the shirt, then gave her a hard, deep kiss, before rising and pulling off the rest of his clothes. Naked, he slipped back between her thighs, resting lightly on her as his mouth found hers again.

They kissed as if starving for each other, their lips and tongues battling, their hands caressing in frantic strokes. Buffy's knees pressed against his sides and she squirmed beneath him, driving the throbbing tip of his cock across her lower stomach.

Her arousal pounded through her, making her dizzy with longing, and she wondered at how fast it always came upon her, then all thought was driven from her mind as he began to thrust against her, rocking his cock along her cotton covered mound.

Buffy cried into his mouth, then tore her lips from his, gasping for air. Her fingers clenched into his hair and she arched against him, reveling in the tight, hot sensations building in the pit of her stomach.

Panting needlessly, Angel propped himself on one hand, sending the other between them to tug her panties down. As Buffy kicked free of them, he drove into her, making her bite back her cries of need.

Burying her mouth against his shoulder, Buffy rocked with him, her legs around his hips, her breasts rubbing against his hard chest. A low, continuous growl broke from Angel as he thrust hard and fast, his mind a red glow of lust as her delightfully tight passage clenched around his cock.

As his orgasm rapidly approached, he suddenly remembered his words to her, and, gritting his teeth, he forced himself to slow. When he pulled out of her, her eyes popped open.

"Wha...?"

They widened even further when he scooted down the bed and buried his mouth between her legs. As Angel's tongue danced up and down her slick folds, Buffy yanked a throw pillow over her face and yelled into it. His teeth scraped at her swollen nub, then he delicately nipped. Her whole backside arched off the bed as pleasure zinged through her.

Taking her hips in his hands, Angel raised her to his mouth, drinking the juices streaming from her as he kissed and sucked on her heated flesh until she went wild. Her orgasm overwhelming her, Buffy bit into the pillow and held her breath until she saw stars behind her eyelids.

As the spasms began to slow from his tender licks, Angel moved back over her and drove powerfully into her body. Buffy whimpered and flung the pillow away, reaching for his face to bring his mouth back to hers.

"Promised...you first," Angel growled into her mouth as his own climax shattered his control. As he slumped on top of her, panting desperately for unnecessary air, he felt Buffy's lips on his cheeks and chin, heard her sighs of pleasure, and he smiled.

*****

Willow forced one eye open to watch Spike stroll bareassed out of the bedroom. Waking up from her short doze, she felt another tingle of anticipation go through her and sat up, reclining back against the pillows and tucking the sheet around herself.

A few minutes later she giggled uncontrollably at the sight of Spike returning carrying a tray with pieces of chocolate cake and a bottle of chocolate syrup. The chocolate wasn't the funny thing. That was the frilly white apron he had tied around his waist.

"Are we playing naughty French maid and no one told me?" Willow managed to giggle out.

Spike scowled and joined her on the bed, setting the tray on her lap. "Eat your cake."

Willow's eyes widened at the vision of six layer chocolate torte on a dessert plate. "Did you bake this?"

"Yeah, can't you tell by the apron that I've become a complete poof?" he teased. "Got it at the new bakery on Euclid."

Willow took a bite and whimpered in delight. "Oh my..."

"Good huh?"

She held out a forkful and he sucked it clean. "Um, pretty good."

"It's sinful." She took another bite, savoring the explosion of dark, milk and white chocolate in her mouth. "Made by angels."

Spike snorted and helped himself to a bite. "Not quite. The bakery's owned by a trio of Hammerand demons." At her startled look, he smiled and continued. "Harmless types. Damn fine pastry chefs. Angel set them up in business."

"Why?" Willow asked suspiciously. "Angel rarely eats human food."

Spike flashed her a wicked smile. "We all make room for chocolate."

Eyes twinkling, Willow gestured to the bottle of syrup. "And, what's that for?"

"My dessert." He waggled his eyebrows at her and took another bite of the torte.

As desire surged through her, Willow grabbed the tray and shoved it at him, removing the plastic squeeze bottle as the tray dropped onto his lap.

"Oy, you're getting torte on my apron."

Willow kicked away the sheets and yanked the top off the bottle. "Play now, whine later."

Spike grinned and dumped the tray on the night stand. Running his eyes over her eagerly squirming body, he took the chocolate sauce from her outstretched hand. Laying down on his stomach perpendicular to her, he expertly began to draw patterns of chocolate on her thigh. After a few minutes he grabbed her knee and sighed. "If you don't stop wriggling, I'm going to have to start over."

Giggling, Willow craned her neck to see what he was doing. "Like that would be such a hardship." His tongue swiped across a bit of chocolate covered flesh and she whimpered in pleasure. "What are you drawing?"

He looked up, his eyes burning into hers with the intensity of his desire as he murmured, "I'm not drawing. I'm writing 'Spike loves Willow' all over your body and then I'm going to lick it off and drive you insane."

Willow swallowed hard and shivered in anticipation.

*****

By the time Angel had recovered sufficiently to lever himself off Buffy, she was asleep. Propped on one hand, he gazed down at her languid, peaceful expression. A hint of a smile curved her well-kissed lips, and her skin was flushed and shimmering with a fine sheen of perspiration. The rosy blush continued down her throat and chest to spread across her breasts, which gently rose and fell with each sated breath.

Carefully, Angel brushed a lock of hair from her forehead and touched his lips to her temple. She sighed and shifted, turning into him, her hand slipping up to rest on his hip, her smile widening in her sleep.

At her unconscious touch, Angel started, his eyes widening as emotions so long denied rushed through him. Something tightened in his chest and he gasped loudly. Anger flooded him as well, anger at the sure knowledge that he cared much, much more for the girl curled so trustingly against him than he had believed himself capable of doing.

Drusilla's innocently spoken words returned to him and Angel jerked away from Buffy, rising from the bed to flee from the sight and smell and very essence of her. He could feel her infecting him, making him want to cuddle her, soothe her, tell her things he didn't believe in.

Grabbing his pants, he had one leg in when Buffy murmured a bit crossly, "Leaving already?"

Angel froze, panic overwhelming him. Hopping on one leg, he tried to put the other one in the pants as he babbled, "I can't... I have to...No...wrong...no...fuck, shit, god dammit!" The last was directed at the pants that were refusing to go on right and had sent him toppling onto the end of the bed face first.

Buffy couldn't help it. She giggled. And when he turned furious golden eyes on her, she giggled some more.

And Angel realized this was it, the crossroads, the turning point. He either killed her now and walked away a demon, or he accepted that the emotions churning inside him were real and very, very human.

*****

Standing in the geographic center of Sunnydale--which happened to be in Restfield Cemetery next to a large statue of a male angel with torn wings and drawn sword--Drusilla spread her arms wide and flung her head back, bathing in the light of the full moon. A smile flittered across her face as love flooded her.

It was all right now, everything was all right. It was no longer wrong for him to love her.

It was no longer wrong for demons to love.

Closing her eyes, she spun slowly, her skirts swirling around her ankles, as the stars sang to her of possible futures, of family, of love given and received, of the mingling of blood both human and demon, of...change.

And her heart leapt in her chest, beating from the love she felt for her family, for her lovers, and Drusilla cried out in joy as tears streamed down her face.

*****

Willow felt it first, a wave of powerful emotion sweeping over her, drowning yet not frightening her. She sank beneath it as her body arched to Spike's and her arms and legs tightened around him as they reached the rarest of rare, a mutual orgasm. As their bodies shuddered together, their eyes met, both wild and stunned.

"Do you feel it?" Spike gasped out.

Tears flooded her eyes and Willow whimpered, "Love, so much love..."

Shifting onto his side, Spike cradled his weeping lover, soothing her with soft sounds, as unnoticed by either of them, a flutter went through his still heart.

*****

Shoving himself to his feet, Angel angrily righted his pants, zipping them up as he turned his fury on the giggling blonde in the bed.

As Buffy began to realize that laughter was probably *not* the best idea in this situation, and fear began to overtake her wild humor, his expression changed and his eyes shot to the ceiling.

"What the fuck?" Angel muttered, shock slamming through him.

Concerned, Buffy began to rise from the bed, only to fall back as her heart began to pound and her throat constricted. Tears filled her eyes and she sobbed as emotion overwhelmed her.

Hearing her cry out, Angel spun, his head dizzy, his blood feeling like it was boiling inside him. At the sight of her crying helplessly, all his anger disappeared and the emotion that replaced it forced him to his knees.

Love.

"No," Angel howled, denying what he was feeling, what he felt, what he...knew to be true.

Hearing the agony in his cry, Buffy tumbled from the bed and wrapped herself around him as he crumpled onto his side, clinging to her.

"I hate you, you're nothing to me, nothing but a plaything, my plaything," he insisted hoarsely, "I will not love you, I will not!"

But, his words rang falsely to both of them, and Buffy sobbed, "I love you," as she stroked her fingers through his hair and opened her heart.

And Angel's heart answered with a soft, struggling thump of its own.

*****

"It was Drusilla," Willow insisted, leaning back against Spike as he lounged against the headboard. "She did something, made us feel love."

"We already love each other, so what was the point?"

"I don't know," she said with a shrug. "I think we just got caught up in something."

"Then who was it aimed at?" Spike asked, then stiffened as soon as the words were out of his mouth. "Oh fuck..." Scrambling from the bed, he grabbed Willow's clothes and tossed them to her. "Get dressed."

"What?"

"If Dru cast a love spell, who's the one idiot among us who won't admit he can feel that particular emotion?" He asked, yanking on a pair of jeans.

"No, I don't think it was a love spell per se," Willow said slowly as she rose to dress. "It didn't feel like that."

"How would you know? You've never felt a love spell."

"True." She continued to puzzle over that as she quickly dressed. "But, it just didn't seem powerful enough. Like it was more of an...enhancement. I don't know..."

Fully dressed, Spike grabbed her hand and they headed out into the night.

*****

Gaining a modicum of self-control Angel pulled away from Buffy and rose to his feet, only to come face to face with the pale fury of Joyce as she stood in the doorway, the hairpin she'd used to jimmy the lock in one hand, the other clutched around the door knob.

"Get out of my house," she said succinctly.

Hearing her mother's voice, Buffy gasped and scrambled for something with which to cover herself. She ended up wrapping the blanket around herself, still sitting on the floor, tears sparkling on her cheeks. "Mom!"

Joyce's furious eyes slowly slid to the shaking heap on the floor. "I think you kept quite a bit from me, Buffy, didn't you."

Shame flooded Buffy and she tried to think of something to say, some way to make this situation...less bad, only to be shocked by the words Angel spoke. Words in her defense.

"Mrs. Summers, I take full responsibility for everything between your daughter and I. Don't blame her for keeping the truth from you. Everything is my fault."

Both women gaped at him and Angel frowned and crossed his arms over his naked chest.

Slowly Buffy rose to her feet and, holding the blanket between her breasts, moved in front of him, her back to her mother. "Angel?" she whispered, a glimmer of hope filling her.

His eyes met hers and, seeing the hope and joy in them, he physically flinched, but his hands came up to cup her shoulders as he shook his head. "No."

Buffy sagged, tears springing anew in her expressive eyes, and her head drooped. Sorrow flooded her, but it was sprinkled with relief, because she knew if somehow Angel returned to her, she'd never be able to face him.

Watching the hope leave her was almost as painful as seeing it in the first place and Angel cursed fluidly in Gaelic before gathering her close and, ignoring the presence of her mother, fully accepted the emotions churning through him. "It doesn't matter, because I will love you more than he ever could."

Buffy's head jerked up, her eyes widening with shock as her mouth fell open. Angel's eyes glittered down into hers, full of the usual evil and anger and hatred and passion and fire and lust and... "Oh god..." Sparkling through all the familiar emotions was something she had never believed she'd see again. "How?"

"Drusilla," he replied through gritted teeth.

Her shoulders slumped again. "Then, it's not real."

"Oh, it's real. She just forced it out sooner than..." Angel stopped, realizing that he was about to reveal that the emotions had been there for far longer than he had known. "Damn it!"

Her body stressed, her emotions yo-yoing from one extreme to the other, Buffy flung back her head and laughed in joy.

"What are you laughing at, wench?" Angel growled, pulling her tightly against him.

"...Dunno." She continued to laugh, burying her face in his chest as he unconsciously stroked her shoulders.

Feeling her own heart both break and expand in the face of her daughter and her demonic lover admitting their feelings, Joyce quietly pulled the door shut and headed for the stairs.

*****

The mansion held no sign of Angel, so Spike ran back to the car in which he'd left Willow, and they headed for the next possible location.

"She was going to tell her mom the truth today."

"Oh yeah, that's a brilliant move," Spike replied sarcastically as he skidded the car around a sharp corner.

"So, she's probably home recovering from that," Willow continued, ignoring him as she gripped tightly to the strap above the door. "Could you not get us killed, please?"

"Angelus wouldn't have wanted the Slayer patrolling, not in her weakened state. So, hopefully they're at her place."

Willow finally panicked. "Hurry!"

*****

Finally calming down, Buffy pulled back from Angel and looked over her shoulder.

"When did my mom leave?" Turning, she walked to the door and opened it, then closed it again on discovery of the empty hall.

"About the time you started laughing like a loon." Angel reached for his shirt and slipped it on.

"I have to talk to her," Buffy said a bit hesitantly.

"I know," he sighed in return, running his fingers through his mussed hair.

Smiling gratefully, Buffy quickly threw on a pair of sweats and a tank top, then brushed her hair before turning back to face him. "Um..."

"She knows I'm here. She knows about us. She knows I'm some kind of unnatural vampire who can..." He couldn't say it. Once a night was going to be his limit.

Maybe once a week, if he could manage it, though women tended to get all needy for the words once they were said the first time. Mentally both groaning and cursing himself, Angel sighed heavily.

Buffy held back her instinctive giggle as delight trickled through her. Taking his large hand in her small one, and, for the first time in nearly a year feeling the comfort his touch induced, she led him from the room.

*****

"I don't hear any screams or smell any blood," Spike muttered as he and Willow dashed up the steps onto the Summers' front porch. Willow quickly rang the doorbell.

"Maybe he took it well," she said, her heart sinking as she knew that couldn't possibly be true.

*****

When Angel and Buffy were halfway down the stairs the doorbell rang and Joyce walked out of the living room, drink in hand, to answer it.

"Willow..."

"Mrs. Summers, is Buffy here?"

"Oh, yeah." Joyce's eyes landed hard on Spike.

"Um, this is my..."

The older woman interrupted Willow. "Yes, I know who he is, what he is." Stepping back, she gestured for them both to enter, just as Angel and Buffy stepped off the last step.

As the two vampires and their lovers all stared at each other, Joyce headed back into the living room.

"I take it you two are older than time. Want a drink?"

Willow gaped after Joyce, then swung her eyes back to Buffy who was smiling slightly. "Are you okay?"

"Uh huh."

There was a light in the Slayer's eyes that Willow hadn't seen in a year and she swallowed heavily as emotion flooded her. The two girls fell into each others arms, laughing softly.

Spike stared blankly at Willow and Buffy, totally baffled.

"Let's go get that drink, my boy," Angel said, slapping Spike on the shoulder before guiding him into the living room.

"Parallel universe," Spike muttered, "has to be."

"Scotch okay with you two?" Joyce asked as she poured the amber liquid from a bottle into two tumblers.

"Fine," Angel answered. As he took one glass and handed the other to Spike, Buffy and Willow entered the room, arm in arm.

Joyce sat down on the couch and took another deep sip of her own drink, as her mind just accepted and went along with everything, and her eyes carefully examined the two...vampires standing in her living room.

Her daughter and her best friend were damn lucky.

"I'm confused," Spike finally said carefully, not wanting to set off his sire. "Dru..."

"Ah, yes, my beloved daughter has much to answer for," Angel replied sarcastically.

"Was it a spell?" Willow asked in a small voice.

"Not exactly."

"You felt it?" Buffy asked Willow.

Willow nodded and blushed. "We were..."

Angel chuckled evilly. "Spike, you dog."

Spike stared at his sire, then slugged back his drink. "This is too bizarre for words. You're too...happy or something."

"Well, love will do that to a demon," Angel joked.

Everyone gaped at him.

"What?" he demanded a bit defensively. "Yes, I love the twit, can we move on and discuss how we're going to keep her alive through her birthday?"

Willow choked on her own saliva and Spike nearly dropped his glass.

Angel smirked. "Did you think I'd burn the town down before admitting it?"

"To be honest, yes," Spike finally spit out.

"Well...so did I, but..." Angel shrugged and reached for the bottle of Scotch. "You never know what's going to happen when you live on the mouth of hell."

Spike held out his glass. "More."

End Trials: Epiphany

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original end notes to the first part: Angel was supposed to gaze down at Buffy, then nudge her awake and boink her some more. He wasn't supposed to get sappy, damn it! If you're wondering why Buffy didn't tell Angel about Faith and her mom, it's because Angel and Buffy don't really talk. That's going to change. Damn it.


	10. Best Laid Plans...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Buffy's birthday, now all she has to do is survive it by facing the greatest trial of her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally published in two chapters on August 21 and 23, 2001. Rated PG14. After the first part the end notes were: I actually have some idea of how to make this all work...

"Mrs. Summers...ah...I didn't...ah..."

Joyce stepped back, opening the door wider so that Giles could enter the house, as she finished for him, "Expect me to be here? Yes, well, I'm no longer out of the loop, so to speak."

Giles gave her a flustered look, then movement in the living room drew his attention and he paled. "Get back, Mrs. Summers," he ordered as he drew a cross from his pocket and stepped in front of her.

Joyce closed the door, took his arm and reached for the cross. "There's really no need for that."

Angel grinned evilly from where he stood leaning against the mantel. "I'm being a good boy, Rupert."

Buffy rolled her eyes and hurried to rescue her Watcher. "I didn't want to go into all of it over the phone, Giles, but I decided it was time my mom knew the truth and then...well..." As she pulled the cross from Giles' limp fingers and stuck it back into the pocket of his tweed jacket, she shrugged.

Giles gaped at her as Joyce left the two of them alone, going to the kitchen to fetch the coffee she'd made. "You told her everything?"

Nodding, Buffy took his arm and tugged him into the living room. He went very hesitantly, his eyes never leaving the very comfortable looking vampire.

"What is he doing here?"

Shivering at the chill in her Watcher's voice, Buffy murmured, "He won't leave me alone."

"Aren't you going to wish her a happy birthday, Rupert? Though I'm sure nothing will top the present I woke her up with."

As Buffy reddened, Giles stiffened and took one threatening step forward, his hands clenched into fists, only to be halted by Joyce as she walked between the two men carrying a tray.

"None of this posturing is doing Buffy any good," she snapped, setting down the tray before turning to Giles. "Mr. Giles, may I call you Rupert?" At his distracted nod, she continued. "And, please call me Joyce. Now, Rupert, I know that my daughter is having sex with an evil vampire. I also know that it's been going on for nearly a year and since he hasn't killed her yet, I rather doubt he will any time soon. Physically, he's her match, quite possibly the only match. I remember how she cracked the ribs of her last boyfriend back in L.A. after I caught them making out on the couch."

"Angelus is a demon. He has no soul," Giles said quite succinctly.

"There are a lot of evil humans in the world, too," Joyce countered. "And my daughter loves him. I love her. It's as simple as that."

"He will never love her in return."

"Wrong there, Rupes old buddy," Angel said cheerfully as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "And look, I didn't burn down the town on realizing that rather sickening fact."

Buffy frowned and he smirked at her.

"Kidding, lover."

Walking over to Angel, Buffy let him tug her down onto the couch with him. "You said you'd behave if I let you stay for this meeting."

"It's not in my nature, babe, but I'll try." Slipping an arm around her shoulders, he pulled her against his side and took a sip of coffee before giving the now totally shocked Giles a serious look. "Now, how do we defeat the Council?"

A bit numb, the older man sank down into the rocker. "Can I have a dollop of Scotch in my coffee?"

As Joyce fixed his cup, Giles looked at Buffy and gathered his thoughts, slamming the door on his anger, fear and hatred, in order to serve her best.

Buffy wriggling under his intense gaze, he asked, "Have you really told her everything, Buffy? Everything?"

"Well...I didn't go into a lot of details." She started to drop her eyes in embarrassment, then realized she didn't really feel embarrassed anymore and locked her eyes on his. "The intimate details of my relationship with Angel are no one's business. It's taken one very long year and a very bumpy road to get to this point, but..." She looked up at Angel, then slid her hand into his, resting them on his thigh. "This is what I want. This," she stressed, "is who I love."

As she turned her gaze back to Giles, her eyes shown with love, and he swallowed heavily. She was fully and completely a woman now, and an odd pride filled him as he nodded in understanding. "But, your mother knows about the slaying, the hellmouth, the trial tonight, Faith, everything about that?"

"Yes."

"I was understandably hesitant to believe any of it at it first," Joyce said, handing Giles a cup before settling in the easy chair with her own. "But, Buffy convinced me and..." She gestured to Angel. "He doesn't breathe."

"He has no soul."

"Neither does Spike," Buffy pointed out, glowering at her Watcher.

"Precisely."

Angel rolled his eyes. "Please, like having a soul is such a big indication of good. Spike has more love in his pinkie than most humans do in their wildly beating, cholesterol clogged hearts."

"Nice image, honey."

He grinned down at Buffy and stroked his fingers along her arm making her shiver slightly. "Now, *I'm* evil. I know it. I revel in it. But, I guess my heart isn't as black and shriveled as we all thought, and, if you think I'm going to let Buffy die tonight, you're nuttier than Drusilla."

"So, how do we prevent that?" Joyce interjected before Giles could form a retort.

"I'm not sure."

"I could just not go. I mean, since I know about the test, I could just fail to show up."

Giles shook his head at his charge's suggestion. "That would be the equivalent of failing. No, you have to go."

"Do I get to go armed?"

"Traditionally, no, though there is plenty of wooden furniture and the stair railings in the house to turn into stakes."

Buffy gave him a puzzled look. "Why would I go anywhere unarmed?"

"Well, in the cases I've researched, and, remember, it's been over fifty years since this test was conducted, the Slayer was instructed to go unarmed and she did."

Angel snorted. "No wonder so many Slayers die young, bunch of lemmings."

At Joyce's whimper of distress, Buffy glared at her boyfriend and leaned over to take her mother's hand. "That's not going to happen to me. I'll hide a stake or a dozen on me."

"You're not going," Angel growled.

"That doesn't look like an option."

Angel turned his attention and his glare on Giles. "What would happen if I intervened?"

"Actually, that happened once about one hundred and thirty years ago. Somehow a demon found out about the test and broke into the warehouse where it was being held. The Slayer had managed to kill the vampire test subject, but was killed by the demon. It was considered a tragic accident. Since then, the Watchers have remained on the perimeter to prevent any interruptions."

"How many are there?"

Giles pondered that for a minute, drinking his coffee. "I have already been excused as being too 'emotionally attached' to my Slayer, so that leaves Wesley, Quentin Travers, the man heading up the test, and two or three of his men."

"No problem," Angel proclaimed.

"You can't kill them," Buffy murmured, making him sigh.

"Still not a problem. The day I can't elude five humans is the day I start wearing dresses and singing to the moon."

Buffy snickered and he growled playfully at her.

Giles rolled his eyes.

The ringing of the doorbell precluded the need for a response, and Joyce rose to answer it.

"Hail, hail, the gang's all...What the hell is he doing here?" Xander demanded, pointing at Angel.

"Oh, yeah, I knew there was something I forgot to tell you," Willow said from behind him as she folded the blanket Spike had used to get from the car to the house.

"Secrets all out?" Cordelia asked, sauntering into the living room to sit on one of the dining room chairs Joyce brought in. "Good, about time." She pointed to the floor at her four inch black booted feet. "Xander? Sit."

As he took the seat next to Buffy, pulling Willow down on his lap, Spike snickered at Xander shuffling across the floor to fold himself into a comfortable position at his girlfriend's feet.

Jenny turned from introducing herself to Joyce and leaned down to kiss Giles' cheek before taking the seat next to him. "Everything okay?"

"Peachy," Giles replied sarcastically, his eyes burning holes into Angel who was stroking Buffy's naked knee and chatting with Spike. Finally, the older man regained enough composure to reiterate what had been discussed.

"So, it is possible for Angelus to sneak in and help Buffy, letting her escape." Spike glanced over at his sire. "Think you can put on enough of a show to convince the council of wankers that you're pissed off that she got away?"

"That won't be a problem."

"What about your dream, Buffy, about..." Willow glanced hesitantly at Joyce.

"I told her," Buffy confirmed. "That I dreamed that she was used in the test." She turned to Giles. "How do we prevent that?"

"Jenny and I shall stay with your mother. We'll put wards up around the house. The Council would never endanger her."

"Are you so sure?" Buffy persisted. "Giles, they've never liked that I still live with my mom, that they have less control over me. I mean, it's their own fault, but I can see them blaming her."

Giles frowned, but slowly nodded. "I can see your point, Buffy. We'll make sure to keep out human visitors as well as supernatural ones."

"As long as the wards come down tomorrow," Angel interjected pointedly.

Narrowing his eyes, Giles reined in his desire to comment and turned to Joyce. "We'll keep you safe."

"Buffy told me about her dreams, that they're prophetic," Joyce began hesitantly.

"That doesn't mean they always come true," he soothed. "Sometimes, they're just warnings of possibilities."

"When this is all over, we're going to have a long talk, Rupert," Joyce stressed softly, her eyes deadly serious.

Giles nodded in understanding. "You're holding up remarkably well."

"It's what mothers do in the face of unbelievable crises." She flashed him a brief, humorless smile. "It was either this or go on a drinking binge."

Willow turned her head to look at Buffy and whispered, "I still plan on the not telling my parents route."

"Good idea," Buffy whispered back, though she was very pleased at her mother's reactions. "Even your extremely liberal mother would never understand Drusilla."

"No one understands Drusilla," Angel muttered.

"Gee, I wonder why."

Spike shushed Willow's sarcastic mouth with a kiss, and the doorbell rang.

Joyce gave her daughter a startled look, then rose to answer it.

"I thought it best to keep her close," Buffy said to the group, as Joyce opened the door.

A frown on her face, hands in her back pockets, Faith strode into the room. She looked at the gathered assembly, then focused her attention on Angel who smirked back at her.

"Y'know, it's just wrong that I'm not slaying anyone here."

"Try it," Angel taunted, still smirking. "I could use a good fight."

Faith returned his smirk. "Let's just get 'B' through the night, then we'll have a go...Liam."

"Oh, please," Buffy sighed heavily. "Sit down, Faith. Shut up, Angel," she said, forestalling his next comment.

Grinning, he nipped the finger she waved in front of his face.

"Why didn't anyone mention that we'd gotten sucked into hell?" Xander whined. "Because making me watch Dead Boy flirt with Buffy *has* to be my eternal punishment."

Cordelia thwapped him on the back of the head, as Willow and Buffy giggled.

*****

"Y'know, I'm really not feeling tip top, Wesley. Maybe I should skip patrol and head home to go to bed early."

Wesley dropped his book and gave Buffy a flustered look as he stammered, "I'm certain it's nothing, and you must be ever vigilant. Vigilance is the Slayer's watch word."

Lounging behind her Watcher, Faith rolled her eyes. "It's no problem, Wes. I can patrol alone tonight."

"Actually, I have a special assignment for Buffy, so you will be on your own tonight, Faith."

"What? I'm not special?" the brunette whined, winking at Buffy, who suppressed a grin.

Wesley stammered some form of excuse, but Faith blew him off, bouncing to her feet and grabbing her bag. "No problem, I'll hit the hot spots. Have fun on your special assignment, 'B'."

"Be careful."

"Always, girlfriend."

As Faith left the Library, Buffy turned back to Wesley and cocked an eyebrow. "Special assignment? And where's Giles?"

"Um, Mr. Giles had...something to do and asked that I direct you tonight."

'When pigs fly,' Buffy thought, but let Wesley babble on about the *assignment*.

"You want me to go unarmed?"

"This type of demon mystically turns all weapons back upon the user. I'm certain you will be able to use your wits and physical prowess to defeat it." Wesley smiled at his quick thinking and Buffy frowned at him.

"It's only two feet tall, you're sure?"

"Very sure," he lied through his teeth.

Buffy sighed heavily, as if greatly put upon, but nodded. "Fine." She made a show of pulling a stake out of the back of her waistband and emptying her bag of weapons. Tucked in an inner pocket of her jacket was her favorite stake, in her boot was a knife, and in a shoulder harness was a bottle of holy water.

She was going to survive this insanity and some day make every member of the Watcher's Council regret messing with her.

*****

Warily Buffy approached the deserted and boarded up house in one of the bad neighborhoods of Sunnydale. Before leaving the school, she'd called home just to make sure that her mother was fine. Giles had told her everything was quiet, the wards were up, and no one had approached the house. He had wished her well, and the hitch in his voice had brought tears to her eyes.

All she had done over the past year to disappoint him and he still loved her. She couldn't have asked for a better father, and that was the only way she could think of him now.

Focusing on the task at hand, Buffy walked up the weed festooned path and silently took the stairs to the wooden porch. She winced as a board creaked beneath her feet and stood still, holding her breath. After a long minute, she took another cautious step and reached for the doorknob.

It turned silently and she stepped into a dimly lit hall. Grabbing a candlestick off the table in the entry way she used it to hold open the door. She knew that one of the damn Watchers would come along and remove it, but she had to act as if this was all unknown.

A shiver of fear went through her as she looked around herself. There were rooms on either side of her, full of dusty furniture and knick knacks--and Buffy briefly wondered what had happened to the original occupants of the house that they had left all their possessions behind--and in front of her was a rickety looking staircase and the continuation of the hall back to a lit room.

Sliding her stake free, she gripped it tightly, not letting her guard down, but feeling some reassurance with its familiar shape and texture in her hand.

Buffy continued down the hall, trying to relax enough to reach out with her senses, but they were muddled by the drugs as well, and all she could feel was the chill in the house. Entering the kitchen, she glanced around at the grungy appliances and nearly jumped out of her skin as a drop of water fell from the faucet and hit the metal sink.

"Shit," she muttered. Taking a deep breath, she entered the dining room and fumbled for a light switch, finding it to her left. A lone bulb hung from the ceiling, illuminating only the center of the room and leaving very dark shadows in the corners.

Against the far wall stood a tall crate. The door hung open and, as Buffy approached it, she could see the remains of a straight jacket on the floor.

There was blood on it.

Wrinkling her nose, Buffy smelled the acrid, coppery scent leading out of the room and into another that was pitch black past the entryway. Gripping the stake tighter in her hand, she followed the scent into the dark room. As she reached along the wall for a light switch, her feet went out from under her and she fell hard.

Liquid soaked into her jeans, and her eyes widened as the smell overwhelmed her.

A light flickered on and Buffy realized she was sitting in a pool of blood. Scrambling away from it, she bumped into a body and gasped loudly in shock.

There weren't supposed to be any dead bodies!

Heart pounding in her chest as terror raced through her, Buffy jerked her hand away from the cooling corpse and looked up.

Walking slowly towards her was a tall, male vampire.

He was sucking on the bloody stump of an arm.

Buffy jumped to her feet and dashed back through the dining room, her mind whirling. As the man she had stumbled into had his limbs attached, there were at least two victims in this house.

What the hell had happened?

She could hear the vampire pursuing her at a leisurely pace. He made no attempt to be quiet and continued to slurp at the arm. Buffy gagged at the sound, but kept running.

The front door was closed, as she had expected, but she pulled futilely at the knob for a few seconds before turning to the boarded up window. As she pulled at one of the boards, silently cursing her lack of strength, she heard a sibilant whisper of 'Slayer' behind her and spun away just as the vampire reached for her.

Buffy ran for the stairs, scrambling up them as fast as she could.

He was faster.

His hand snagged her ankle, and she shrieked, kicking out at him as he brought her down hard on the stairs. Flipping onto her back, she managed to kick him in the face and he released her.

Buffy was up the stairs in a flash, reaching for the first closed door.

It was locked, as was the next one and the next.

She could hear him behind her, calling her title in that sing song voice, taunting her with snippets of what he was going to do to her when he caught her. Galvanized, Buffy ran down the poorly lit hall towards what looked like a second set of stairs.

As she reached the top of them, she skidded to a halt.

Another vampire stood there, leering at her.

The body she had found earlier.

A Watcher?

"No." Shaking her head wildly, she backed up, then turned to find the other vampire only a few feet from her, a wide grin on his face.

"Oh, Slayer, we're going to have such fun."

Glancing wildly around, Buffy spied a square hole in the wall and dove for it, not caring what it was. She found herself sliding down a chute and all too soon fell out onto a hard cement floor. Groaning as pain blossomed in her shoulder, Buffy pulled herself to her knees, and squinted into the darkness.

A hand reached for her and she screamed, lashing out with the stake that was miraculously still in her hand.

"It's me," Angel hissed, jumping away from the stake.

Relief flooded Buffy and she pushed her sore body up and into his arms.

"Something's gone wrong," she said quickly. "I think a couple of the Watchers are dead, a least one's a vampire."

"There was some confusion outside. That Giles junior was quacking about something and stunk of fear. Are you all right?" Angel carefully ran his hands over her.

Reveling in his concern, Buffy buried her face in his chest and mumbled, "Yes." His hand stroked over her head and she smiled.

"Let's go kill something."

"Well, this isn't fair. The Slayer's not supposed to get any help."

Buffy and Angel spun towards the sound of the voice and a dim light filled the room as the lone bulb flickered on.

The two vampires filled the doorway to the stairs. It was the only door in the room.

Grabbing Buffy, Angel turned towards the small window high in the basement wall through which he had gained access to the house. It had been boarded up, but he had easily torn away the covering. As he started to lift her to the window, a large cement block and then another was set in front of it.

"Damn it," he swore, shoving Buffy behind him against the wall.

The two vampires slowly entered the room, the fledgling moving into the beginning of a flanking maneuver.

"You're one of us," the older vampire said, startled.

Angel snarled softly and morphed, his eyes flashing a deep, angry gold. "Yes, I am, and I have a claim on the Slayer."

The other male laughed harshly. "And yet she roams free and kills our kind? Doesn't say much for your claim." The laughter cut off abruptly and he growled. "When she is mine, I'll chain her to my bed and fuck her until she breaks. Then, when she's whimpering and pleading for death, I'll turn her. She'll be my obedient slave."

With a growl of fury, Angel flung himself at the other vampire and they went down hard, fighting and clawing at each other.

Fresh fear filled Buffy, but she tore her eyes from the combatants in time to brace herself for the fledgling's charge. Mindless and starving, he went for her throat as he smashed her into the wall. Buffy fought and kicked, bracing the heel of her hand against his chin to keep him from biting her. She tried to bring up her stake, but he caught her wrist, squeezing until she cried out and dropped the piece of wood.

As the fledgling laughed in glee, his sire yelled, "Don't you dare kill her. Knock her..." His words were cut off as Angel pounded his face into the floor.

Buffy could see the indecision and hunger in the eyes of the former Watcher and took the opportunity to bring her knee up into his groin. As he stumbled back in pain, she reached for the bottle of holy water and opened it, keeping it down by her leg.

"Bitch," he howled, cupping the front of his khakis and coming towards her again.

Standing her ground, Buffy waited until his hand raised to grab her, before bringing up the bottle and splashing the contents on his face and hands.

The fledgling shrieked and fell backwards into the other two males who had gained their feet. Angel went down hard beneath the smoking vampire and was unable to avoid the vicious kick to the head from the older male.

Buffy saw Angel's head hit the floor, his eyes close, and her stomach lurched. The fledgling was still struggling on top of her lover, clawing at his own face as it melted away. Buffy realized that Angel had to be unconscious or he would have pushed the other vampire off of him by now.

A shuddering breath caught in her throat and she backed up, away from the vampire, the test subject she was supposed to kill.

*She* was supposed to kill him.

Cold anger and determination began to tamp down the fear, and Buffy felt her inner strength, her will and wits return. This was her job, her destiny. Not Angel's. Not anyone else's. The trial was stupid, but she was the Slayer, and it was up to her to deal with every supernatural thing the world threw at her.

"Just us, Slayer," the vampire hissed.

"The way it was meant to be," she murmured, her eyes swiftly moving around the room. In a quick move, she pulled the knife from her boot and held it confidently before her.

"That won't kill me," he laughed, reaching for her.

Buffy dashed beneath his outstretched arm and kicked back, accurately hitting him behind the knee. As he fell forward, she spun and slashed the knife across his hamstring.

"Bitch," he yelled in pain, crumpling as his leg gave out.

Buffy stumbled as her own leg ached from the hard kick she had given him, and he twisted and caught her, driving her down to the floor. Bracing herself, she managed to prevent the breath being knocked from her, and struggled furiously, kicking out at him. He flipped her onto her back and she slashed at him with the knife, cutting his arms and chest as he crawled up her body on one knee, dragging the other leg behind him.

The vampire's claws bit into her waist and her breast, tearing rivulets in her flesh, but Buffy ignored the pain, jamming the knife into his chest with all her strength. His hands reached for her neck, his body pinning her down, and he sneered at her.

"That's all you have, Slayer?"

"Forgot something?" she whispered, as her free hand closed around the stake she had fallen next to. Raising it, she slammed it into his back with all her remaining strength.

At such close range, her aim was true, and he cried out in shock as he crumbled to dust.

Chocking and coughing, Buffy rolled away and started to shake as reaction set in. Her whole body began to throb in pain, but her first thought was of Angel and she pushed herself up to her hands and knees in time to see him shove the fledgling off of him and quickly stake him.

"Buffy?" Angel shook his head against the pain, and his eyes widened as he saw they were alone. "Where...?"

"Dead," she replied weakly, panting from both fear and relief.

"...You?"

At his slow smile of pride, Buffy felt her own self-assurance return and smiled back. "I guess I'm the Slayer regardless of strength."

Rising swiftly to his feet, Angel was at her side in an instant, lifting her into his arms and kissing her desperately. Buffy clung to him, returning his kiss with all the love and wonder she felt. "I thought I'd lost you," he muttered gruffly, his voice hitching slightly. "When I felt myself losing consciousness and...I can't lose you, Buffy," he swore frantically. "I won't let you die."

"I'm not going anywhere," she soothed softly, stroking her fingers along his furrowed brow. "My strength will be back in a few days, but I know now that my inner strength is what really matters." She kissed him tenderly, then smiled into his turbulent eyes. "All you've done to me over the past year has led to this moment, Angel. You tore me down and rebuilt me over and over into something much better, much more powerful. I survived everything you threw at me. The Watcher's Council could never compete."

Angel frowned. "Is that a compliment?"

Buffy giggled and kissed him again. "I wanted to kill you so many times. I hated you so much sometimes, even just a few days ago, but I love you even more." Smiling, she buried her face in his neck and felt him tremble against her.

"I love you, too," he mumbled, emotion nearly choking him, as he started to carry her across the floor. 

End Best Laid Plans


	11. Celebration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Buffy survived her trial and now faces the Watchers. The Scooby Gang celebrates, Angel broods, and Drusilla freaks out a bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally published in three chapters, the first two on September 18, 2001 and the third on November 6, 2001. My original notes on the first two chapters included the following: I need to keep living as normally as possible and that includes writing, but I know that everyone deals with crises and tragedies in different ways. If you're not ready to read fic, I totally understand. 
> 
> The first two chapters were also PG14 while the last was heavy R for smutty content and BDSM.

Upon reaching the foyer of the house, Angel set Buffy on her feet and slowly ran his eyes over her. "You're bleeding too much; I don't like it," he growled.

Buffy glanced down at the front of her shirt and saw that it was streaked with fresh blood. Raising one hand to her breast, she winced at the wave of pain that washed over her. "I'm not too thrilled about it either," she gasped out. "I don't seem to be healing as quickly anymore, but not all of this is my blood."

"His stink is all over you. I want to kill him again, very slowly and painfully."

Buffy smiled weakly. "That's very sweet."

Scowling, Angel turned his gaze to the very solid looking front door. "You need medical attention."

"I suppose if I pound on the door and tell them to let me out, they'll ignore me, thinking I'm trying to escape from the big bad monster," Buffy sighed.

"This is totally idiotic." Crouching down in front of the door, Angel examined the lock. "Do you have a lock pick?"

"Do I look like a cat burglar?"

Rolling his eyes, Angel tried again. "Hair pin?"

"Um, 1999 dear. Only grandmas wear those." Taking one of her cute, pink barrettes from her hair, she handed it to him. "Will this work?"

Angel stared at it, momentarily overcome by the fact that he was in love with a modern teenager, then shook his head. "Too big." He dug into his pockets and pulled out a comb, his wallet, a set of thumbscrews, a nipple clamp, a coupon for a free drink with purchase of a pizza at Pizza Hut, and a bobby pin with one, long, black curl wrapped around it.

"Dru." Smiling at the foresight--literally--of his youngest childe, Angel unwrapped the curl and started to work on the lock.

"Well, she's grandmas' age," Buffy muttered as she gently probed the oozing slashes on her arms.

Angel grinned and twisted the pin in the lock. If the Slayer could quip, she was going to be fine.

The lock quietly popped open and Angel rose to his feet. "If you can draw the idiots to the front, I can go out the back through an upper window. They'll think any damage was done during the fight."

"No problem. I have a few choice words to say to them," Buffy replied caustically, straightening her shoulders and heading for the door.

Touching her lightly on the shoulder, Angel stopped her forward progression. She looked up at him questioningly, then smiled as he kissed her more tenderly than he ever had.

"I'll see you soon."

Before she could say anything, he bounded up the stairs. Buffy reached for the doorknob and opened the door with a resounding bang. Stepping onto the front porch she peered into the late night gloom.

After a long moment, a very flustered Wesley came out of the bushes, brushing off his suit. "Ah, Miss Summers. A successful mission, I presume?"

"I just wonder how a two foot tall basically harmless to me demon turned into two vampires and an armless corpse." Buffy took great satisfaction in seeing him turn pasty. "What the hell is going on, Wes? You send me into a boarded up wreck of a house without any weapons and there's a couple of crazed vampires in there, then the freaking door gets locked. I'm lucky to be alive." As she spoke in a hard, harsh voice, she walked down the stairs, cradling her left arm which hurt worse than her right.

Out of the shadows on either side of her came two men, one young, one old, both wearing tweed.

"More Watchers?" she sighed heavily.

"Congratulations, Miss Summers," the older one said, though he didn't look pleased. "I am Quentin Travers of the Watcher's Council. You have passed the Crucimentium."

"I've passed the whatium?" she snapped back.

"A test that all Slayers must pass on their eighteenth birthday."

"Facing a couple of vamps in a locked house. Not much of a test."

The small smile that crossed his face made her shiver--it was equally as unpleasant as one of Angel's most evil smirks.

"Surely you have noticed your weakness."

"Flu."

"No, it's part of the test. The Crucimentium is a trial of wits and mind, not body, so we weaken the body."

"How?" and her voice was chilling.

"Drugs," he replied nonchalantly. "They shall wear off in a day or two."

"Drugs?" Her eyes snapped to Wesley who flushed, and tugged at his collar. "Wesley?"

"Mr. Giles refused to do his duty, so I took his place," the younger Watcher stammered. "It was necessary, Miss Summers, I assure you. And there was only to be one vampire. He..." He cleared his throat.

"...Broke free," the older man finished coldly, "and killed two of my men, turning one. I'm amazed that you managed to kill both of them."

"Yeah, I'm quite amazing. And I'm done here. You Watchers have any other little tests or pop quizzes, you can bring them to the Library tomorrow afternoon. I have to go to the ER now before I bleed to death."

Wesley winced at her snide comments. "I'll drive you."

"I'll walk."

"In your weakened condition, you are vulnerable..."

"Didn't seem to bother you before, Wesley. Just go to hell. I can take care of myself. I think I proved that tonight." She brushed abruptly past him and limped down the walkway. Her knee and hip ached from the many crashes to the floor, and Buffy could feel bruises forming on just about every inch of her body.

"Miss Summers," Travers began, "you can't just walk away. You must be debriefed, you..."

"Fuck off."

Passing through the gate, she headed across the street. They didn't try to stop her again.

*****

By the time Angel reached the mansion he was in full brood mode. The dark look on his face sent fledglings scurrying in terror, and even the oldest and strongest minions turned their faces away from him in submission.

Only Drusilla spoke to him, tugging on his arm and leading him to the couch in his sitting room.

"You're hurt."

"Leave off, Dru."

Frowning, she ignored him and delicately probed the head wound. It was healing, but there was dried blood on the wound. Wetting a finger, she drew it along the gash, reconstituting the blood. With her finger coated in the rich ichor, she smiled and sucked the digit between her lips.

"So...powerful," she murmured, "And full of..." Her eyes widened and she sank down onto the couch to stare at her sire. "Fear?"

"She nearly died," Angel ground out, jerking his eyes from her to stare across the room. "I was knocked out, useless."

Drusilla frowned again and sat back on her heels, growling, "She should have died."

His fingers were around her throat, the nails digging into her tender skin, before she could react. She met his eyes, her own calm, as a slight smile grew on her face.

"Will you hurt me now?" she murmured, anticipation flowing like heat through her still body.

With a sound of disgust, he thrust her away from him. "Don't push me, Dru."

"I hate her," Drusilla muttered petulantly, curling into the far corner of the couch. "She's all you think about, all you dream about. You reek of love."

"And you don't?" Angel retorted.

"...Oh." The vampiress' mood swung back again and she crawled back to him, cuddling against his side. "Love isn't so bad."

Restraining himself from rolling his eyes, Angel grabbed the phone off the end table.

*****

"Hello?"

"Mom?" Buffy broke into sobs of relief and leaned against the payphone.

"Buffy? Are you all right, honey? Is it over? Where are you?"

"I'm fine, I..." Her body began to tremble and she gulped loudly.

"Buffy? Are you out of the house?" Giles asked, having taken the phone from a shaking Joyce.

"Ye--yeah. I'm at the Quick Stop at 5th and Grand," she managed to stammer.

"I'll be right there."

Hanging up the phone, Buffy slid to the ground, shock setting in.

*****

Giles turned to the gathered group--Joyce, Jenny, Xander, Cordelia, Willow and Spike--and smiled in relief. "She made it."

There were whoops and cheers and lots of hugging.

Joyce stopped Giles at the door, her hand on his arm. "Thank you."

"I'll bring her home safely," he promised, before grabbing his coat and leaving the house.

*****

As Spike swooped Willow into his arms to kiss her, his pants began to vibrate. In joy and bewilderment, Willow giggled.

"That's new."

Scowling, Spike wormed his hand between them and pulled a pager out of his pocket. "Angelus' new toy." Checking the message, he smiled slightly. "He's fine." Then he frowned. "Wants me back at the mansion."

Willow's lips drooped downwards. "Why won't he let you celebrate?"

With a gentle kiss, Spike replied, "Because he's a controlling prat, luv. I'll go find out what he wants, and give you a call later if I can't get away."

As he tried to pull away from her, Willow clung to him, pleading, "You know he won't let you come back to me. Tell him to piss off, and stay."

"Willow, you know I can't," he said gently, disentangling himself from her grip. "You have to let me go to him."

"I hate him."

At Spike's silence, Willow's eyes widened and she frowned even more. "Spike?"

Pulling her into the hallway away from the celebration, he leaned forward so he could speak softly. "I hate what he wants to do to you, Willow, but I don't hate him on my own behalf anymore."

"Why not?" The hurt in her eyes made him wince, but he needed to explain the growing resurgence of emotions he hadn't felt for one hundred years.

"He's my sire. Yeah, he's a prick and a blowhard and right evil fucker, and he's half insane due to being head over heels in love with a slayer, for fuck's sake, not that she isn't a nice person, but...after one hundred years, he's come back to me. My sire, my lover, my brother in arms. For the most part, the last couple of months have been...like old times."

"Do you love him more than me?" Willow asked in a tiny voice.

"Never," he swore, kissing her again. "And what I feel for him is much different than what I feel for you, my truest love."

Wrapping her fingers in the front of his shirt, Willow drew his head down for another kiss. "I don't get it."

Spike smiled and hugged her close. "Good, I'll do my damnedest to see that you never understand it. Now, I really have to go."

"...Okay. I still hate him, though."

Chuckling, Spike kissed her one last lingering time, then slipped out the front door.

"Where'd Spike go?" Cordelia asked from behind Willow.

"Got paged by Angel," Willow replied, pouting.

One finely plucked eyebrow arched. "Now, that's not a pleasant expression."

"Want to make something of it?" the redhead challenged, arms crossing over her chest.

Cordelia grinned. "Later. Xander's parents actually want him home tonight, so..."

"You'll help me forget prick head?"

"I think I can do that." Slipping her arm through Willow's, the dominatrix cheerleader of Sunnydale High led the way back into the living room.

*****

Giles found her slumped next to the payphone, one arm tucked protectively against her body. As he crouched down in front of her, fear flooded him as the lights from the store illuminated the fresh blood oozing from gashes in her arm and chest.

"Buffy?"

With a whimper and regardless of the pain, Buffy launched herself into her Watcher's arms, weeping.

Tears of relief filling his own eyes, Giles hugged her gently for a long moment, then easily lifted her into his arms and slid her into the passenger seat of his car. Groaning she sank into the bucket seat and closed her eyes, exhaustion and pain taking their toll on her.

"I think a trip to the emergency room is in order," Giles said, trying not to panic at the sight of wounds that showed no sign of healing on his Slayer.

"Uh huh," she gasped out, tears still leaking down her dirt stained face.

Giles quickly rounded the car and got in the driver's side. With one lingering glance at her pale and shaking form, he started the engine.

*****

"You beeped me, your majesty?" Spike asked sarcastically as he entered Angel's suite.

Angel sat on the couch, Drusilla kneeling beside him clucking over a healing wound on his head.

"Got a boo boo?"

At Angel's growl, Spike rolled his eyes, but shut his mouth.

"She won, and by herself in the end." The dark male pointed to the head wound and made a frustrated sound. "I was basically useless."

"Doing it on her own was the best way for it to go down."

"And you say that why?"

Drawing up a chair, Spike plopped down in it and started to explain. "If you had gone in and rescued her, doing her job for her, she'd never know if she'd have had the strength to do it herself. She'd be dependent on you." He gave his sire a shrewd look. "And you knew that, and that's not what you want."

Angel growled again and pushed Drusilla's hand away. "So, you're saying I let myself get knocked out."

Spike shrugged and lit a cigarette. "Probably not consciously. But, you don't want her weak. You just don't want her trying to stake your ass."

"That would make it very hard to sit," Drusilla giggled, reaching behind herself to pat her bottom.

"Why aren't you with her?" the younger male asked his sire, giving his insane lover an indulgent smile.

"We had to split up. Did she make it home?"

Hiding his smile at the anxious look on his sire's face, Spike replied, "She called for Giles to come get her."

"She was hurt. That bastard clawed her. If she scars, I'll piss on his ashes."

"Can we do that now?" Drusilla asked, wide eyed. "Can we tinkle?"

"Luv, why would we want to do that?" Spike asked at the same time that Angel snapped, "It's just a saying, Dru. Stop being so flaky tonight."

Frowning, the vampiress rose to her feet and, with a harsh swish of her velvet skirts, headed for the door. "You both are talking at cross purposes and it's not funny. I'm going hunting."

Angel shot a look to Spike, who jumped to his feet.

"Wait up, Dru; I'm a bit peckish myself."

She spun around and glared him into stopping in his tracks. "You just don't want the nasty Watchers to find me."

"Drusilla," Angel snapped. "Either Spike or I go with you when you leave the mansion or you don't get to leave, got it?"

For a moment it looked like she would argue, maybe even throw a tantrum, but then she acquiesced with a glare at her sire. "...Yes, Angel."

Growling, pouting and glowering, she left the room, Spike quickly following her.

Angel shook his head, then growled at the pain that lanced through his skull. Raising his hand to his hair, he growled even more when he felt the dried blood ruining his careful coiffeur.

*****

An hour later, Buffy limped from the emergency room to find Giles anxiously awaiting her.

"How are you?" he asked, his voice low.

She tried to shrug, but ended up wincing as abused shoulder muscles screamed. "Bruised, scraped, cut. They think I may have twisted a tendon in my knee and that I was lucky not to tear it. My shoulders are banged up, and I have a couple dozen stitches holding my breast together." At his sudden pallor, she gentled her voice. "I'll be fine, especially once my healing ability kicks back in. I don't have a concussion, so they're letting me go, and they gave me some lovely drugs for the pain and to prevent infection. Those are kicking in now." She smiled and hugged him gently.

"Home then?"

"Please," Buffy sighed, letting him support her down the hallway, having refused a wheelchair.

*****

"How long have you known?" Joyce asked Jenny as they sat at the dining room table, drinking coffee while the teenagers chattered in the living room.

"About Buffy being the Slayer?" At Joyce's nod, Jenny continued, "Well, the party line is that I found out near the end of her sophomore year, but I've known since your arrival in Sunnydale. She didn't tell you about my involvement?"

"Only that you're into all this and that you're dating Mr. Giles."

Jenny smiled. "I'm damn lucky to be doing so." Taking a deep breath, she continued. "I'm a gypsy, from the same clan that cursed Angelus. You know about that, right?" Joyce nodded again. "For the life of me I don't know why they risked his losing his soul. They could have made the curse permanent very easily, and given him boils or something if he felt a moment of true happiness." She took a sip of her coffee and another deep breath. "And they didn't inform me of that little clause, either. I was sent here to keep an eye on him. We've always had our eyes on him."

"Are you really a computer teacher?"

"Oh yeah. I'm American born and raised, in a normal middle class house and family, and educated at San Diego State. My people knew why Angelus was sent here, to help the Slayer, and since the Slayer was a teenager, I was the logical choice to place in her school."

Joyce shook her head slightly and rubbed her temples. "It all sounds so cold-blooded."

"It wasn't. I swear, it wasn't. I quickly came to like Buffy and her friends and...well, Rupert." She grinned, but quickly sobered. "But, when Angelus reverted and the truth of my involvement came out, they partially blamed me. Even though I hadn't known of the clause, their anger was understandable. I stepped back and waited, and while waiting I began to look for the spell to recurse him, thinking that if I could help them..."

"Did you ever find it?" Joyce asked, excitement staining her voice.

Jenny shook her head sadly. "No, and once I was brought back into the inner circle, other things took my time. There's always another demon around the corner." Giving Joyce a chagrined look, she apologized, "Sorry. It's a coping mechanism."

"I guess I'll have to develop that one myself," Joyce said sadly.

Reaching across the table, Jenny patted the older woman's hand. "Your daughter is incredible, really."

Pride shown in the eyes Joyce raised to the teacher. "I know."

Smiling, Jenny took another sip of coffee. "When Rupert and I found out that Buffy was still seeing Angelus, it suddenly made sense why Buffy had never been very enthusiastic about me searching for the curse."

"I don't get that. I asked her and she hedged a lot. Why wouldn't she want him cursed again? Couldn't you leave that clause out and then they could be together without the fear of him losing his soul again?"

Jenny looked sadly at the blushing mother, before saying carefully, "Joyce, I can only guess at a lot of the details of your daughter's relationship with Angelus, but it's not something that she wants Angel, the one with the soul, to know."

Joyce's eyes fell, and the hand holding her coffee mug began to shake. "She's my baby. All I ever wanted was for her to be happy."

"She is. After a long, hard year of struggling with his demon and her growing feelings for him, she really is happy with him."

"And he's hurt her," Joyce forced the truth out, trying to accept it.

Jenny nodded and reached for Joyce's hand. "Vampires...Joyce, they're not cuddly. Pain is something they all enjoy, both causing and suffering it. Most vampires are simply killers, monsters. But some, like Angelus and Spike, still feel human emotions if they'll let themselves. Love can temper any relationship, even one with a demon."

"Do you really believe that?"

"I believe that I never thought I'd see Angelus as worried as I did earlier today. He reminded me of Angel. His love for Buffy is the same love his soul felt for her. I believe that."

Joyce squeezed the younger woman's hand and tried to swallow her fear for her daughter.

*****

"Dru...Dru, wait up."

Spike finally caught up to the angry vampiress as she entered the park near the mansion. Grabbing her arm, he spun her around, and frowned down into her demonic eyes. "Why are you so angry?"

"He loves her," she hissed, trying to wrench free of him, all her good feelings regarding the emotion of love gone in the blink of an eye.

"You knew that. You knew it before he realized it."

"He loves her more than me," Drusilla wailed, beating at Spike's chest with her free hand until he grabbed it. "I'm his dark princess, his black goddess."

"And you still are, luv," he soothed, keeping his calm as he tried to control her flailing limbs. "She can never change that."

"No one loves me best."

At the tears sparkling in her suddenly human eyes, Spike felt his heart sink and he sighed softly. "We loved your first."

Slowly Drusilla quieted, sinking against his solid body, tears slipping down her cheeks. "I'll wither and die alone, Spike. You know that, right? He knows that?"

"No one is leaving you, Drusilla." Releasing her hands, he wrapped his arms around her and gently stroked her back.

"He did, before."

"His soul took him from us both. It isn't coming back."

"Promise?" she asked, looking up at him with hope-filled eyes.

Spike smiled reassuringly and kissed her softly. "Cross my heart."

"We're already dead, silly," she giggled, her mood quickly swinging.

"How about...I promise it won't return until the moon falls into the sea and all the stars wink out."

"I shall hold you to that promise, my William." Standing on tip- toes, she placed a kiss on his nose, then broke away from him. She backed into a patch of moonlight and swayed seductively. "Make love to me in the moonlight?"

Smiling at the surge of lust through him, Spike pulled off his jacket as he strolled to her.

*****

The front door opened and everyone rushed into the hall. Sobbing in relief, Joyce pulled Buffy into her arms.

"Ow," Buffy groaned, but hugged her mother back, fresh tears filling her eyes.

"Oh baby, I nearly went insane waiting." Pulling back slightly, Joyce gave her daughter a quick once over, wincing at the sight of the bandages on her arm and another one peeking through the tears in the front of her shirt. "Are you really okay?"

"Bruised, not beaten." Buffy tried to smile, but now that she was safe, exhaustion was overwhelming her. "I'm just really, really tired."

"Yeah, the circles under your eyes...Okay, okay," Cordelia hastily added as Willow and Xander both glared at her. "I'm glad you're alive, Buffy."

"Yeah, me too," Buffy snipped back, but with a tolerant grin on her face.

Cordelia smiled back, true relief shining in her eyes.

Gently Willow hugged her best friend. "We were all so worried, but we knew you'd win."

"I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. I just want to sleep for a hundred years or so."

"But, then you'd miss out on such thrills as high school graduation," Xander quipped, leaning in and kissing her cheek. "You're winning was never in doubt."

"Thanks, Xan."

"Even if the evil dead had to help."

Both Cordelia and Willow smacked him on opposite arms.

"Ow."

"Baby. Come on, let's get out of Buffy's hair so she can get that much needed beauty sleep."

As Cordelia and Xander said goodbye and gave Buffy gentle hugs, Willow hung back for a minute.

"Call me tomorrow when you feel up to talking."

"Will do."

With a final hug and kiss on the cheek, Willow followed her friends out the door.

Giles slipped his arm around Jenny who leaned into him, relief in her tired expression. "Yes, you get some rest, Buffy. I suspect the Council will wish to talk to you tomorrow."

"So they said," she sighed tiredly.

Smiling, he leaned down and brushed his lips across her forehead. "I am very proud of you."

Buffy beamed, her spirits lifting through the exhaustion.

"Good night, Buffy," Jenny added. "We're all so very happy you're going to be fine."

"Thanks, Jenny."

As the couple left, Joyce called goodbye to them and closed the door, locking it for the night. Turning, she saw Buffy's eyes welling with fresh tears and carefully pulled her back into her arms.

"It's okay, baby. Just cry it out. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere."

Buffy hiccuped, then sobbed and clung to her mother. "Mommy..."

*****

Panting from exertion, Cordelia turned on her side and watched Willow tremble. The redhead was tightly tied to the bed, her muscles straining against the bonds. She was on her knees, her bottom in the air and her head on the mattress. Short pants of pain and pleasure were echoing from behind her tangled red locks. Her skin was flushed and covered with a fine sheen of perspiration.

And dozens upon dozens of red switch marks.

Cordelia wriggled out of the strap-on she'd spent thirty minutes using on her slave and frowned as the tension inside her increased. She'd climaxed twice, but it wasn't enough.

"I don't think we've seen the worst yet," she murmured.

"Mistress?"

"Did I give you permission to speak?"

Willow shook her head quickly, a shudder of anticipation running through her body.

Cordelia crawled over one of Willow's arms and scooted down the bed. "Lift your head." As Willow obeyed, Cordelia slid beneath her. "Put your mouth to better use while I think," she ordered, and then moaned as Willow's tongue circled her clit.

*****

Sated, Spike rolled into a sitting position on the cold, damp grass, and reached for his cigarettes. Lighting one and drawing deeply on the nicotine, he smiled as he watched Drusilla giggle as she picked at grass stains on her breasts.

"I'm green."

"That you are, luv, at least in spots."

"I'm a leopard," she growled, clawing at the air. "A voracious leopard."

He arched a brow and waited for her to continue.

Drusilla sat up, her expression crafty as she crawled towards him like a cat. "And I'm hungry and want to eat Watchers. Can I, Spike?"

"Probably not a good idea, Dru."

She began to pout. "They're evil. The moon told me. I want to howl at them and rip out their guts."

"Why?" he asked, curious as to what her reason might be.

"They threaten Angel and thus threaten us all," Drusilla replied, her voice and expression serious. "It's not over. They won't leave politely like good house guests."

"More tests for the Slayer?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I just see..." As her eyes went misty, she moaned softly. "Decisions must be made, choices chosen, the end...We're on the precipice looking down at the ruins of our salvation." She blinked wildly and shook her head. "Red, so much red, the color of pain and passion and roses and noses and..."

Spike caught her as she collapsed, moaning and whimpering. Gently he stroked her back, murmuring nonsensical words to soothe her.

*****

Faith stood in the shadows of the bandstand watching the two naked vampires, the male comforting the female. She was itching to stake them, but she had promised Buffy she wouldn't. It was just unnatural to let them live.

It was unnatural to let them fuck you, too. Even though she'd listened to all the explanations and seen the devotion the vampires had for their human lovers, it was still unnatural.

And the fact that Willow knew that Spike was unfaithful and accepted it was beyond Faith's understanding.

She didn't believe in fidelity for herself, had never really given it much thought, but then she'd never seen such love. William was utterly devoted and enraptured by Willow, yet Spike was obviously in love with the nutty vampiress, too. And apparently Angel was banging both of the other vampires and Willow along with Buffy.

Frowning and shaking her head, Faith silently stalked off in the opposite direction. This town and its inhabitants were just too much.

Maybe it was time to leave Sunnydale and find a place to call her own.

*****

Buffy sat on the end of the bed wrapped in a fluffy robe and stared blankly into the mirror on her closet door.

She looked hideous.

It seemed like every inch of her body was bruised. Her jaw was swollen, her forehead was turning purple, there were finger marks around her neck. In the fight she hadn't even realized she'd hurt those parts of her body.

Sighing, she tried to lift her hand to run a comb through her damp hair and winced at the burning pain that lanced through her shoulder. Her mom had washed her hair--Buffy had refused to go to bed with blood-matted hair--and helped her wash the parts of her body not stitched together, but Buffy had then sent her to bed.

Brushing her own hair should be as easy as pie.

Buffy tried again, groaned in pain, and threw the comb all of two feet in a sudden fit of anger.

"Fucking Watchers," she muttered, blinking away the tears that were forming.

"Yeah, well that's probably their problem. Not enough fucking."

At the sound of the voice from outside the window Buffy startled. Her senses dampened, she hadn't felt his presence.

"How long have you been there?"

Angel climbed easily through the window. "Since you and your mother came in from the bathroom. How do you feel?"

"Helpless," she growled, turning her face away from him.

He dropped to one knee in front of her and gently touched her chin. She flinched.

"Hurts?" he whispered.

"All over," she admitted, finally looking at him. "I look hideous."

Angel smiled and lightly touched his lips to hers. "I like bruised skin."

"Yeah, well we all know how sick you are."

Chuckling at her snippy retort, Angel reached for the ties of her robe. Buffy grabbed his wrists and gaped at him.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking at you."

Blushing, she shook her head. "I'm all bandaged and bruised and..."

"You say that you're ugly and I'll add a couple more bruises to your lovely bottom."

A tingle went through her and Buffy squirmed, moderating her response. "Temporarily ugly?"

He pulled open the robe and ran his eyes slowly over her slender body. She was covered in bruises, from pale pink to dark purple, and one arm and one breast were swathed in bandages. There were several other scrapes on her body, many of which had bled and were now scabbed over.

Angel's nose twitched, and he tenderly cupped her undamaged breast with one big hand.

"You smell so good," he murmured.

Buffy shivered as his words reverberated through her. Her stomach clenched in desire and she moaned as already sore muscles pulled.

Shaking his head to clear it, Angel released her and rose to his feet. "Time for bed." Opening a dresser drawer, he pulled out a pair of sensible white panties and a t-shirt with a panda bear on it. Turning back to her, he gently pushed the robe from her shoulders, then helped her into the t-shirt before handing her the panties.

Buffy slid them up her legs, her eyes on the obvious bulge in his pants. "Um, don't you want to have sex?"

"Do you?" he turned the question back on her.

She squirmed. "Um, no. I can barely move."

Walking up to the head of the bed, Angel pulled back the blankets, then gestured for her to crawl beneath them. As she did so, he removed his clothes, leaving on a pair of navy silk boxers.

Buffy gaped at them. "You're wearing boxers!"

Angel scowled and slid into bed next to her. "If your mother walks in, I don't want her fainting at the sight of my manliness."

Snorting, Buffy rolled onto her least sore side and placed her only slightly swollen cheek on his chest. "Some ego you got there."

Angel's hand slowly stroked over her head and down her back. "It's not ego if it's true, baby."

She smiled, then winced at the pain in her jaw. "Maybe I should have let you eat the Watchers," she mumbled.

Chuckling, Angel placed a soft kiss on the top of her head and reached over to turn off the lamp. "Go to sleep, my love."

"...love," she smiled, her eyes drifting shut.

*****

"Do you think the Watcher's Council will try something else?"

Cordelia rolled onto her side to face her girlfriend, shrugging her shoulders. "I wouldn't put it past them, would you?"

Willow shook her head, wincing at the twinges of pain in her back. "No."

"They want her dead. She keeps not being dead."

"Do you think they'll try something even bolder?"

"I think they might just pull a gun out and shoot her in the head," Cordelia replied candidly.

Willow paled and squirmed closer to the brunette. "And I thought my future sucked..."

Tenderly kissing the redhead, Cordelia sighed, "It's this fucking town..."

*****

Spike watched Drusilla carefully as she skipped ahead of them on their slow meander back to the mansion. He was willing to lay heavy odds on not finding their sire there on their return, so he wasn't in any hurry. Drusilla was singing softly to the trees, then started to laugh as she twirled around a lamppost.

He was always amazed at her wild mood swings, at how soon she could forget the dire futures she saw in her visions.

Unfortunately, he could never forget, and he was very afraid that this vision had pertained to more than just Buffy's future.

Willow's was at risk, too.

Her eighteenth birthday was only four days before their first anniversary. She would be an adult.

She would be mature enough for Angel.

*****

In his lonely motel room bed, Quentin Travers tossed and turned and dreamed of renegade Slayers and insubordinate Watchers dying before his flaming sword.

End Trials: Celebration


	12. The Inquisition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Buffy faces Travers' inquisition, then returns home to study with Willow, while Angel returns to his home to find Spike waiting for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally published in two chapters on November 27 and 29, 2001. This one has Spike/Angelus graphic sex and a cliffhanger ending.

Buffy awoke with the dawn and sat up groaning. What little light seeped around the edge of her heavy curtains hadn't awakened her. Her pain killers had worn off.

Rising stiffly from the bed, she stifled another groan of pain and padded softly across the floor, wishing she'd had the foresight to leave the pills and some water on her night stand. She opened the door carefully, not wanting the creak to awaken her lover, and came face to face with her mother.

Both women let out startled cries and the door swung all the way open.

Joyce's eyes immediately went past her daughter to the vampire just now sitting up in the bed. The sheet dropped to his waist, revealing a muscular and incredibly pale chest.

Buffy blushed and fidgeted with the hem of her t-shirt, not knowing what to say.

"When did he get here, and why didn't I hear the bell ring?" Joyce asked, frowning down at her squirming daughter.

"Um...he never...y'know...the window."

Sighing heavily, Joyce shook her head, then turned her attention back to Angel. She really didn't appreciate that slight smirk on his face. "From now on, please do me the courtesy of ringing the doorbell and coming into the house the normal way before you climb into my daughter's bed."

Buffy gasped and blushed deeper.

Angel stared at Joyce for a long moment, then chuckled. "I always wondered where Buffy got her spirit." Sitting in bed, he managed a courtly bow that brought a flush to Joyce's cheeks, and she spun around.

"Breakfast will be in twenty minutes."

As Joyce headed for the stairs, Buffy sagged against the door, then whimpered as her shoulder gave a throb of pain.

Angel was off the bed and lifting her into his arms before she could whimper again.

"Wh...what?"

"Where were you going, baby?"

"Bathroom," she mumbled. "Painkillers."

"I'll get them for you." As he started to return her to the bed, she took a hold of his shoulder.

"Um...I have to..." Her blush turned even more fiery.

Angel grinned at her discomfort and turned towards the bathroom. "I'll wait outside, then carry you back to bed."

"I'm kinda hungry, actually."

"Then I'll carry you downstairs."

"I'm not helpless, you know. I *can* walk," she snipped at him, frowning.

"I like carrying you."

The sensual tone of his voice sent a shiver of pleasure through her and Buffy rested her head on his shoulder.

Angel looked down at the blonde head nestled so trustingly in the curve of his neck, and a rush of emotion made his hands tremble.

Love was quite amazing.

*****

Later that day, after a long and leisurely phone conversation with Willow, a couple of hearty meals, more painkillers, and some tender snuggling with Angel, Buffy limped into the Library to face what felt like The Inquisition--and not the Mel Brooks variety.

Giles sat at the main table, flipping through books, clearly smoldering with anger. Wesley sat across from him, looking pale and not particularly determined.

The other Watcher, that Mr. Travers, was leaning against the side of the stairs, sipping a cup of tea.

"Ah, Miss Summers. We have been waiting for you."

"Yeah, well, I've been trying not to scream in pain for the last several hours," she retorted, inwardly smiling at the tightening of Giles' shoulders. He would fight for her.

"Yes, well, you *are* alive," Travers continued, gesturing for her to take a seat, which she did, a bit gingerly.

"How are you, Buffy?" Giles asked softly.

She gave him a reassuring look. "I'll survive. Mom and Liam have been pampering me."

"Liam?"

Buffy slowly swivelled her head towards the older Watcher who came closer, but did not take a seat. She figured standing above her was some kind of macho power play. "My boyfriend," she replied sweetly.

He frowned and she mentally chalked up a point. "Yes, well, that is one thing we need to discuss. Your tendency to let others, humans, interfere with your sacred duties."

"They don't interfere," she retorted. "Without them the world would have gone to hell long ago."

"They are a liability."

"Then that's my problem."

"And they hinder your ability to perform your duties in a timely fashion."

Clenching her hands into fists in her lap, Buffy swung on Wesley. "Have you seen any evidence of that, Wesley? Have you even seen any of my friends patrolling with me?"

"Um...no."

"But, they have before," Travers countered.

"Yeah, they have, to keep me company, to hold my slaying bag, to go up against large numbers. They've risked their lives over and over to help me. I would bet that the numbers of dead vampires and demons is actually higher thanks to my friends."

"I'll concede that point for the first year, but in the past year the numbers of kills has declined."

Buffy thought frantically for a long moment. "They've become sneakier, better at hiding, better at running away from me. I patrol almost every night, I face all the big uglies that come here to try to open the Hellmouth. If my kill ratio is down, it's not for lack of trying."

"It is true, Mr. Travers," Wesley stuttered, "that Faith has been surprised at the low numbers of vampires she has encountered, and Buffy succeeded very well against Balthazar and the Sisters of Ghe, undoubtedly the two largest threats we've encountered since our arrival."

"With the aid of her friends and your Slayer, Wyndham-Price."

Wesley flushed and dropped his eyes to the table.

"When did it become wrong to ask for and receive help?" Giles stated calmly. Underneath his quiet exterior he was seething with anger. "If we all hadn't helped, the Sisters would have opened the Hellmouth and this interrogation would be unnecessary as we would all most likely be dead."

"It is not done," Travers replied succinctly.

Giles jumped to his feet, exploding. "Has the Council become so hidebound, so paralyzed by tradition that they would prefer the world end?"

Travers glowered at him. "Your Slayer is an embarrassment, Mr. Giles. Her secret identity is basically non-existent, she allows her time to be taken up with boys and fashion and rock music," he sneered. "And while she continues to perform her duties, it is at times perfunctory."

"She has kept the world turning." Giles placed one hand gently on Buffy's trembling shoulder, and she looked up at him gratefully. "If you cannot see that, you are a blind idiot."

The look on Travers' face darkened and he took a menacing step forward. "I need no excuse to remove you from your position, Giles."

Giles' eyes narrowed dangerously. "Nor do you need an excuse to call in an execution squad." He ignored Buffy's gasp and continued, "But I swear on all that is holy, that if you do, this town and then this world will burn."

The laugh that echoed from the older Watcher sent a shiver through Buffy.

"We can get rid of you just as easily, Giles."

Looking up, Buffy caught a glimpse of Ripper in the feral grin Giles leveled on Travers, and another shiver went through her. Who ever said that the English were stuffy?

"It won't be me who does the burning, you pillock."

Travers snorted. "Are you saying that this scrap of wilfulness is all that's keeping the world in one piece?"

"Yes."

"You think way too highly of her."

"Yes, I do," Giles replied proudly.

"A vampire's trollop."

Only Buffy's hand on his arm, stopped Giles from leaping at the other man.

Travers smirked and continued, "She bedded a vampire who turned around and tried to destroy humanity."

"And for a year, she has maintained a fragile peace with, yes, one of the most powerful and dangerous creatures ever to walk this Earth. Angelus is a force of evil you are not prepared to face. Buffy has kept him controlled, and Sunnydale and the world survive."

"She should have killed him long ago."

Giles shook his head. "She can't. No one can."

"No matter his reputation and the numbers he controls, Angelus is just another vampire. Any Slayer should be able to take him down. You are only proving how incapable she is at performing her necessary duties."

"Stop it," Buffy whispered, dropping her eyes to her lap. Both men fell silent, Giles sinking back into his chair, and she took a deep breath. "I can't kill Angel. You're right. But, if I could...where would that leave me? With another vampire moving into his place. With some unknown vampire, because if I killed Angel, I'd have to take out his childer first. That old saying is right. Better the devil you know..."

Slowly she raised her eyes to Travers and they burned with fury. "But, it doesn't matter, because I can't kill Angel. I'd never get close enough. He'd throw every minion and demon at me, until I was so worn down I'd be an easy mark. And then he'd do the same to the next Slayer and the next. He has eternity. And he has the intelligence and patience to wait you all out."

"He is an animal," Travers reiterated.

Buffy shook her head in disgust. "You don't know anything. With all your books and learning and esoteric crap, you don't know anything about the creatures I face. You think everything's black and white, evil or good. No wonder Slayers all die young with that kind of teaching."

As she spoke, she squeezed Giles' arm gently, letting him know that she wasn't including him in her diatribe. With his tender, understanding eyes on her, she slowly rose, taking a deep breath against the pain.

"Now, I'm going to go home and curl up in bed and wait till my healing factor kicks back in. I really suggest you not be in Sunnydale when that happens."

Travers seemed almost amused by her. "You have remarkable bravado, Miss Summers. Too bad, it is equaled only by your naivete."

She shrugged. "Bravado seems to be working. The world hasn't gone to hell yet, so I figure I'm doing quite a bit right. Take me out. Faith's good, but she won't survive a month here against Angelus. And then there'll be another and another and another and one of them will fail and the Hellmouth will open."

"You're not that good, girl," he growled in response.

Smirking, Buffy crossed her arms over her chest. "Yes, I am." Trying not to limp she made as graceful an exit as possible, ignoring Travers laying into Giles. She knew he could take care of herself, and her pain killers were wearing off.

She had to regain her strength quickly, because she knew she hadn't seen the last of Quentin Travers.

*****

Spike lounged on the couch in Angel's suite, sipping from a glass of blood and reading the latest Tom Clancy novel when Angel strolled in, hands in his pockets, a contented look on his face.

At the sappy smile Angel directed his way, Spike nearly spewed his blood, instead restraining himself to only chortle, "And you accuse me of being pussy whipped."

The smile turned into a glower, but Spike decided to chance it. "You going to move in with her and play house hubby?"

"You looking to become a pile of dust?" Angel threatened, but his heart clearly wasn't in it.

Spike chuckled and set aside his book and glass. "Love sure does tame the savage breast, or is that beast?"

"I'm not tame."

As Angel lunged for him, Spike vaulted over the back of the couch, taunting, "Did you fuck her, Angelus? With her all bruised and broken?"

"No," Angel growled, rounding the couch and charging to pin Spike against the nearest wall.

Panting softly, Spike gave his angry sire a sensual smile and relaxed back against the unyielding wall. "Because you couldn't hurt her when she was already hurt and she wouldn't enjoy it?"

Leaning forward, hands braced on either side of Spike's head, Angel hissed, "Think you know me so well, boy?"

"Yes," Spike whispered, leaning up and pressing his lips to the older male's.

Surprised, Angel responded, kissing his childe deeply for a long moment before pulling back and setting his demon free. Spike smiled again, a soft, hungry lifting of his lips, and turned his head, baring his neck.

With a deep growl of need, Angel bit, his fangs plunging to their depths into his childe's pale flesh. Powerful, familial blood spurted into his mouth, and he wrapped his arms around Spike's waist, grinding his sudden erection against the other male's taut stomach.

Spike felt himself grow hard, his balls tightening, his cock throbbing with desire, as Angel drank in needy gulps. The scent of mutual arousal filled the space between them, and they both groaned. The younger male reached out, clutching the older's hips, moving them until their constrained cocks slid together.

As Angel pulled back from the bite, trembling with the suddenness of his desire, Spike dropped to his knees and expertly freed his master's cock. Sliding the leather pants down, he ran his hands over Angel's ass, kneading the muscles. Avidly, he licked his lips and watched a bead of pre-ejaculate slide down the rigid length of muscle only inches from his face.

Bracing his hands again on the wall, Angel stared down at Spike in a pose of submission he rarely took on his own initiative.

That this was freely done, the submission so very willing, made Angel shake with a need he only vaguely understood. A need of family and blood...and maybe even love.

Spike glanced up and gasped softly at the intensity in Angel's eyes. "You've never looked at me like that," he managed to whisper.

"Like what?" Angel whispered back.

"Like it really matters that it's me," Spike finally choked out, emotion welling up and threatening to explode from him.

Rather than answer verbally, Angel reached down and pulled Spike to his feet and into his arms, just holding him for a long moment, feeling the younger man tremble at his embrace. Lowering his head, Angel brushed a delicate kiss over Spike's lips, then deepened it until Spike responded with equal ardor. As they kissed with hungry passion, they moved slowly and blindly into the bedroom, finally toppling onto the bed.

Laying beneath his sire, Spike felt a surge of raw emotion for the dominant male pressing him into the mattress. He parted his legs, lifting and wrapping them around Angel's hips, as his hands pulled at the silk spread across broad shoulders. Angel groaned and undulated against his childe, driving their bodies together, as their mouths devoured each others.

Barely breaking the kiss, Angel managed to shrug out of his shirt, then pull Spike's from him. As the younger male's hands tugged the leather pants farther down his sire's thighs, Angel pressed nipping kisses to the pale, sculpted chest bared before him.

"Want you," Spike moaned helplessly, squirming with lust and clenching his knees against Angel's rotating hips.

Reaching between them, Angel fumbled with Spike's zipper, finally yanking it down. The blond bucked wildly as the older male's cool hand wrapped around his painfully hard cock and began to pump.

After barely a minute, Spike howled, thrashing on the bed, his semen spewing over Angel's hand and their bellies. As he sank back, gasping, his eyes glazed, he noticed Angel grinning wickedly down at him.

"Tsk, tsk, where's your control, my boy?" he murmured, letting Spike know he was teasing by leaning forward and lavishing him with kisses.

"Um," was all that Spike could manage as he grasped Angel's shoulders, kneading the hard, muscular flesh.

Snorting softly as his cock gave a painful twitch, Angel rose to his knees and quickly divested them both of shoes, socks and pants. As Spike recovered enough to prop himself up on one elbow and watch, his sire moved gracefully over the bed to the night stand. The blond caught the bottle of cinnamon lube, and grinned.

"Gonna let me fuck you?"

Angel chuckled and flopped on his back. "Not in this lifetime, lover, but I'll let you be on top."

As Angel parted his legs slightly, giving Spike a glimpse of the shadowy hole he only visited with fingers and tongue, his cock began to swell again and he opened the lube. Rising to his knees and straddling Angel's thighs, Spike poured some of the slippery liquid onto his palm, then gently wrapped his hand around his sire's cock, coating it with the lube.

The scent of cinnamon mingled with the musk of male arousal, and both sire and childe growled softly and closed their eyes. Spike's other hand went to his own cock and he pumped it gently, swiftly bringing himself to hardness. Sliding up Angel's body, Spike guided his sire's erection back between his legs to the entrance to his body.

With a loud groan, the blond sank down onto the brunette, impaling himself eagerly.

Opening his heavy eyelids, Angel watched the pleasure flood across Spike's face as the younger male began to ride his cock, driving it deep inside his bowels and brushing it against his sensitive prostate. Gliding his hand down his chest, the older vampire wrapped his long fingers around the head of Spike's cock, his thumb brushing over the sensitive slit. He began to slide his hand up and down in rhythm with Spike's rocking thrusts, and smiled as his own cock throbbed with each squeeze of tight muscles around it.

Pushing his free hand down on the bed, Angel thrust his hips upwards, slamming his cock deeper. Spike arched his spine, his head falling back and his eyes and mouth opening, a wordless cry echoing from him as the pleasure deepened. His body aflame with longing, he could feel himself losing control, his orgasm bubbling just beneath the surface.

Angel rolled his hand up and down the slick column of flesh, the pace increasing with every pump, and smiled at the whimpers and groans echoing from his favorite childe. On the next downward stroke, he continued down, cupping the heavy testicles, then caressing the sensitive perineum with lavish strokes of his thumb.

Gasping loudly, Spike flung his head forward, his eyes meeting his sire's, as his orgasm burst within him and bliss flooded him. As streams of semen shot across Angel's stomach, Spike toppled forward, his hips continuing to thrust, milking his sire's cock. Their lips touched and the younger male whispered, "Come, sire, please."

With a deep growl, Angel wrapped his arms tightly around Spike and bucked up against him, driving his cock at a rapid pace and making the blond grunt with each thrust. Spike's head fell into the crook of his sire's neck and he suckled hungrily on the carotid artery.

"Bite," Angel directed hoarsely, and as Spike did so and Angel felt his blood being pulled from him, he howled and exploded into orgasm.

******

As their lovers were collapsing into a heap of exhausted male flesh, across town Buffy and Willow were sprawled across Buffy's bed, doing their homework.

"I can't believe that I have to go through life and death trials and still have to do my math homework."

Willow chuckled and glanced at her best-friend's scribbled on worksheet. "Carry the five on that last one."

Buffy groaned and flopped on her back, then groaned again as her shoulder complained. "I look like a car hit me, how can I go to school?"

"Maybe your strength will come back overnight and you'll be all healed tomorrow."

"In time to flunk my history quiz."

Rolling her eyes, Willow rose to her feet to reach into her backpack for her California History for Dummies book.

"Trying to tell me something?" Buffy asked, smirking as she took the book.

"Well...it's not really cheating, just a study aid, and you do spend your free time saving the world, so I figure some slack is due you."

"Tell that to Mrs. Walker." Sitting up and leaning gingerly against her headboard, Buffy opened the book and began to flip through the pages. "Have fun with Cordy last night?" she asked after a minute of studying.

"Buffy, we're not going to get anything...oh hell..." Sitting up, the redhead grinned at the discomfort in her bruised bottom, and wriggled. "Fun was had."

Buffy cocked an eyebrow and repressed a grin. "Kinda hard to sit?"

"I like it. So, your mom was really cool about Angel spending the night?"

"She wants him to ring the doorbell first," the blonde replied, rolling her eyes.

"Well, you are eighteen now."

"Uh huh, and when are you telling your mom you're spending half your nights in the bed of both a man and a woman."

Willow blushed and squirmed some more, then sighed. "Knowing my mom, she'd be all for the bisexual side of me. Multi-culturalism or something like that."

Buffy laughed. "I think I'll keep that side of my life still hidden from my mom. I figure I've freaked her out enough for a of couple lifetimes."

Calming down, they both spent about fifteen minutes studying, then Willow hesitantly set aside her chemistry text. "Buffy? Do you think...well...now that Angel loves you...Do you think he'll forget about my promise?"

Buffy sighed softly. "I don't know. I hope so. I can maybe ask him not to...," she began hesitantly.

"No," Willow shook her head sorrowfully. "You've just realized what you feel for him, and him...well, we're all really amazed, since we figured he had no ability to love anyone but himself. I don't want you to ruin this on my account. I got myself into this mess. I'm just hoping that maybe because he loves you now he'll decide to let me go."

"I don't know, Will. I don't really know why he wants you so much. Oh, not that you're not great or anything," she quickly clarified, then sighed heavily. "I just don't know."

"Sorry to be such a downer." Willow dropped her eyes and fiddled with the bedspread. "It's just, I'm almost eighteen now and fully grown and..." She sighed as well. "I have to stop thinking about this." With a determined deep breath, she picked up her text book and began to read, forcing thoughts of Angelus from her mind.

Buffy watched her best friend for a few minutes, then returned to her own studies, trying not to think about anything else.

*****

Later that night, Buffy was awakened by a muffled thump. Figuring it was Angel, she reached for the switch on the lamp, only to be grabbed and shoved face first into her pillow. Panic swamped her and she struggled, her first thought being 'what had she done', but the guttural whisper in her ear calmed one set of fears and raised another.

"We *will* have our way, Slayer."

It wasn't Angel.

Ignoring the aches in her body, she struggled harder, but couldn't move the much heavier man as he straddled her hips and wrenched her arms behind her back. As she jerked her head up, gasping for air, she felt rough rope wrapping tightly around her wrists.

"Let me go," she yelled.

"Scream all you want. No one will hear you."

Just as understanding hit her, Buffy heard a muffled feminine shriek from the hallway, and she joined it with her own scream of, "MOM!"

A blow to the side of her head sent her tumbling into darkness. 

End Chapter: The Inquisition


	13. The Plan Comes Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just who was kidnaped? Everyone angsts over what to do, and as Cordelia implements the plan they finally come up with, Willow and Spike make love, fearing it might be the last time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the two weeks of no posting! This penultimate chapter was originally posted in three chapters on December 5, 2001, December 30, 2001 and January 1, 2002. It has lots of angst and Spike/Willow sex.
> 
> Original notes on the first chapter: Last chapter's cliffhanger had several people jumping to a conclusion that I never planned. Hope the way I went with it isn't too disappointing to you. (I have no clue what they guessed, but the feedback is on some computer in some closet somewhere in my house.)

Buffy was awakened by the sound of the doorbell. As the cheerful sound rang in her head, she realized her whole body throbbed with pain, the worst a pounding in her temples. Slowly she opened her eyes and groaned softly at the sunshine streaming in her window.

The doorbell rang again and she whimpered, trying to turn onto her back and pull a pillow over her head.

Only her arms wouldn't move.

Eyes flashing open again, Buffy squirmed on her stomach. Her arms were caught behind her, numb to the bone.

Bound at the wrists.

The memories slammed into her, and she jerked her head up, screaming for help.

*****

Glancing at her watch, Willow frowned and rang the doorbell for the fourth time. This was really weird. She and Buffy had agreed to meet for breakfast before school to do some last minute cramming. As far as Willow knew, Buffy's mom was in town, but maybe she'd gone to work early and the painkillers had knocked out Buffy.

As she reached into her purse for her keys, she heard a muffled shout from inside, and a shot of fear went through her. Willow silently thanked god for the spare key Buffy had given her months before, and shoved it in the lock. Pushing the door open, she dashed inside and up the stairs.

Willow nearly tripped over the hall table that was turned over, a broken vase of silk flowers scattered on the rug. Fear gripping her, she opened Buffy's door and raised her book bag to use as a weapon.

The room was empty except for the sobbing Slayer laying in the middle of her bed, her arms tied behind her back.

Willow rushed over to her friend. "Buffy? Are you okay? What happened?"

Buffy twisted her head around, blowing futilely at the hair in her face and choking back her sobs. "Willow?"

Sitting on the bed, Willow reached for the knot, wincing at the sight of abraded flesh and purple fingers. "Who did this?"

"Watchers, I think. My mom," Buffy began, her voice full of panic, "I think they took my mom." Fresh tears spilled from her swollen eyes.

Gritting her teeth, Willow worked at the knot. "There's a mess in the hall. I...I didn't see anyone else."

Buffy just sobbed, her head falling onto her pillow in defeat.

Freeing the knot, Willow quickly unwound the rough rope. Both girls hissed, Willow at the sight of ugly rope burns, Buffy at the stinging pain as blood rushed to her fingertips. Willow helped the other girl sit up and then held her gently, rocking her as she cried.

But, crying wasn't going to find her mom, and Buffy forced herself to calm down. She pulled away from Willow and wiped her eyes with her throbbing, swollen hands. Her shoulders ached even more from being pulled tight for most of the night, and her head pounded angrily from the blow that had knocked her out. Reaching out one shaking hand, she grabbed the pills and bottle of water from her night stand.

"Could you call Giles? I...I need him here."

"I'll get everyone here, Buffy," Willow said gently, rising to her feet.

"Angel, too?" Buffy whimpered.

Repressing a heavy sigh, Willow nodded. "I'll call Spike."

As the red-head left the room for the phone in the kitchen, Buffy took her painkillers and blotted her eyes and nose with a Kleenex. Slowly pushing her pain-filled body up, she swayed slightly, then took a determined step towards her closet.

She had to find her mom. She'd do anything they wanted.

*****

Sitting on one of the stools in the kitchen, Willow broke the connection with a furious and worried Giles at the Library, then dialed Spike's cell phone. It rang several times, and was finally answered just as she was about to give up.

"What?"

It wasn't Spike. As Angel's growling voice filled her ear, Willow flinched, and her mind jumped to several conclusions as to why Angel was answering Spike's phone. About to ask for Spike, she shifted gears. "It's Willow. Buffy's mom's been kidnaped. She needs..." Before she could finish, the connection was broken, and Willow stared at the phone. "...you."

Shaking her head slightly, she rose to put on a pot of coffee and plug in the kettle for tea.

*****

Staring at the phone in his hand, Angel wondered dimly why it was shaking, then realized his hand was the thing shaking.

Buffy's mom...

Joyce was mostly annoying, but Buffy loved her and needed her. If anything happened to her...

Reaching over, Angel shoved roughly at Spike's shoulder. "Get up."

"G'way," Spike mumbled. "Daytime."

Balling his hand into a fist, Angel cuffed Spike's ear.

"OW." Rubbing his ear, Spike turned blazing eyes on his sire, demanding, "What do you want?"

Angel was out of bed, reaching for his clothes. "Get dressed. Buffy's mom's been kidnaped."

Spike went totally still, shock filling him. Finally, he muttered, "I knew this was going too easy." Jumping out of bed, he yanked on his jeans, then went on a search for his shirt.

"*I* knew we should have just killed the bloody Watchers to begin with," Angel snarled, sitting down and pulling on his boots.

"That's who took her?"

"Who else?"

"...Right." Nodding, Spike headed for his room to find a shirt. "I'll meet you in the garage."

*****

Buffy hadn't come downstairs when the doorbell rang, so Willow answered it. Giles was in the lead, followed by Xander and Cordelia.

"Jenny couldn't get out of teaching her classes, but she'll come by at lunch," Giles said by way of greeting as he entered the house.

Xander wrapped his arms around Willow, hugging her tightly. "How's Buffy?"

Willow just shook her head and broke the embrace to hug Cordelia.

"We'll find Mrs. Summers," Cordelia said confidently.

"We have to."

They all looked up to see Buffy limping down the stairs, her hand braced tightly on the banister. Xander jumped to help her down the last few steps.

"Yeah, we'll find her, Buffy," he said, guiding her into the living room where Giles angrily paced.

At the sight of her so wounded and vulnerable, Giles stopped and opened his arms. Buffy sank into them with a brittle sob.

"They took my mom, Giles."

Gently he stroked her back and softly sighed. "Exactly what happened, Buffy?"

"Um..." For a moment she buried her face in the scratchy yet familiar tweed, drinking in the scent of books and tea and man, then she pulled back and took a deep breath before sinking into a chair. Everyone else sat down as Willow brought in a tray of tea and coffee.

Buffy composed herself and met Giles' gaze as he sat in the chair next to her. "I woke up to find a man on top of me. I thought...well...I was wrong. He said something like..." She thought for a minute, trying to remember. "Something like, 'we'll get our way', and then he tied me up. I started to scream and he told me to go ahead because no one would hear me, and that's when I heard my mom yell from the hallway." A shudder went through her and she wrapped her arms around herself, ignoring the twinges of pain in abused muscles. "He knocked me out and...I woke up when Willow came by to study."

"It has to be the Watcher's Council, Giles." Willow stirred sweetener into her coffee and frowned. "I didn't think they'd try anything so soon."

"He wasn't English," Buffy mumbled.

Giles reached for the tea-pot, trying to use the familiarity of ritual to keep his anger under control. "Not all Watchers are, and quite a few of the more...specialized are American. The upper crust English council members don't want to soil their hands with the more brutal aspects of the job."

"Will they hurt her?" Buffy forced herself to ask, trying not to cry again.

Looking at her steadily, Giles felt an intense sorrow well up inside him. "I don't know, Buffy."

"They want me to be the perfect Slayer, Giles. To obey their every wish. I will, I swear I will, if they'll just give my mom back to me. I can't lose her," she cried, a hint of hysteria creeping into her voice. "I thought that once the Crucimentium was over, my dream wasn't going to happen, but it is happening. I'll do anything, be anything." She sobbed bitterly, tears sparkling in her eyes. "I'll let them kill me if they'll just let her go."

A storm of protest erupted in the room and the front door banged open. Two vampires, leather coats over their heads, dashed into the house, slamming the door shut behind them. As Willow rose to pull the curtains shut, Angel jumped through a beam of sunlight and pulled Buffy into his arms.

Ignoring the smoking hole in his shirt sleeve and the momentary discomfort of being burned, Angel murmured soothingly to her in Gaelic and stroked her hair, as she sobbed brokenly against his strong chest.

Slowly Giles rose to his feet, comprehension filling his eyes. "I wondered how they had gotten in. You took down the wards."

At the slight accusation in the Watcher's voice, Angel's head whipped up and the vampire growled wordlessly, a sound of one male to another telling the other to back off.

Giles took an angry step forward.

Buffy stumbled as Angel moved her aside and took a predatory step towards Giles.

"Back off, old man," he snarled.

Giles refused, glaring furiously at the vampire. "She took the wards down for you. You're revolting hold over her caused this."

"I'm not going to let you blame me for this," Angel snapped. "None of this would have happened if you'd let me kill them all."

"Butcher," Giles hissed.

"Oh please, please," Buffy whimpered, wrapping her arms around herself.

Willow moved behind the Slayer, gently placing her hands on the blonde's trembling shoulders. As Buffy collapsed back against her, Willow snapped, "This isn't helping anything."

Ignoring the girls, Angel took another menacing step forward and Giles reached in his pocket, pulling out a stake.

"Sire," Spike tried softly, reaching out and catching Angel's hand as it aimed for Giles' throat.

Spinning on his childe, Angel growled until Spike dropped his eyes. As he raised his free hand to knock Spike aside, a sob from Buffy caught his attention and he turned towards her.

Silver tears streamed down her pale cheeks. She was nearly colorless except for the bruises which remained on her throat and wrists. New marks marred the skin there, evidence of the ropes that had tied her.

Angel pulled free of Spike and lifted Buffy into his arms, burying his face in her neck.

"Help me find my mom, please," she begged, holding him tightly.

"Anything, love, anything," he murmured.

Spike slipped his arms around Willow's waist from behind her and leaned down to whisper, "I keep expecting him to slaughter us all..."

"I heard that," Angel growled half-heartedly.

Disgusted, Giles stuck the stake back into his pocket and went over to the bar to add Scotch to his tea.

"So, I'm missing art class here. What are we going to do?" Cordelia asked bluntly, as Xander rolled his eyes and hugged her close.

*****

An hour later, several ideas having been proposed and rejected, they were interrupted by the ringing of the phone. Buffy stiffly rose from the dining room table and went to answer it, only to return with the portable phone in her hand, a frightened, pinched look on her face. She held the phone out to Giles.

"It's Mr. Travers."

Giles' expression hardened as he took the phone. "Quentin." There was a long pause. "I...see." He nodded slowly. "Yes. May I speak to her?" Another pause, during which Giles reached out and took Buffy's hand, squeezing it gently. "Joyce?...Yes, she's fine...Everything will be fine. I..." Pulling the phone away from his ear, he looked down at it, then switched it off.

"My mom?"

"She says she's fine, unharmed."

Buffy sank heavily into the seat next to her Watcher, not releasing his hand, but holding it tighter, as tears filled her eyes. "I thought...I thought they might have killed her to punish me."

Gently Giles embraced her, stroking her back to comfort her. "No, no, she's fine. And they won't hurt her..."

"Drop the other shoe, Rupert," Angel pressed.

Giles sighed heavily. "As long as Buffy obeys them. A new Watcher has been assigned to replace me."

"No." Buffy pulled away from him, protesting. "They can't do that."

He tried to smile at her. "It will be all right, Buffy. I'm not going anywhere."

"This is insane," Willow interjected. "They can't just kidnap Buffy's mom."

"Be grateful she's alive, pet. They can do much worse."

Willow looked helplessly at her lover, then turned back to Giles, insisting, "Well, we can't let them get away with this. I don't care if they have the sanction of god, they've gone too far."

"Then what do you suggest?"

Her eyes traveled quickly over each person sitting around the table before she began to sort through the ideas in her head. "So, the option they propose is that Buffy be the good Slayer, obeying her Watcher, probably dropping out of school, patrolling, researching and working out twenty-four/seven, and maybe they'll let her see her mom eventually?"

Giles nodded. "Basically."

"Which means no way are you going to be able to keep your relationship with Angelus hidden for long," Willow pointed out to Buffy.

Buffy's face dropped even further, but she nodded.

"Like hell..."

Ignoring Angel, Willow continued, "Okay, how about a radical solution. This is the Hellmouth. Buffy, and to some extension, we, keep it from opening. She keeps the peace in this town, keeps the supernatural under control." Her eyes met Angel's. "You admit that it's your love for her that keeps you from destroying everything, right?"

Angel's eyes narrowed, but he slowly nodded.

Willow forced down her smile of satisfaction. "So, together the two of you control this town's supernatural element. You balance each other. You keep everything running more or less smoothly. So...how about we just say to hell with the Council?"

"What do you mean, Willow?" Giles asked, puzzled.

"Why do we need them? You have hardly any contact with them. The books are your own collection, not theirs. Okay, they pay you a stipend, but you've already been replaced so I figure you've been in effect fired. And I'd think that getting Mrs. Summers back and letting Buffy keep the peace the way she has been is much more important than money." At his absent nod she continued, "They seem to think that Buffy belongs to them. That she needs them. That's a bunch of crap."

"I don't even know exactly who they are," Buffy added, the color beginning to return to her face. "I've never needed anything from them."

"They do have resources," Giles began.

Angel snorted. "Nothing like mine. As long as you don't interfere with my plans, you can come visit my library. Makes the one you have look like one half-filled bookshelf with a dying plant on one end."

"And just what *are* your plans?"

Giles' rather snide question seemed to stump the master vampire, and Buffy quickly jumped in. "He plans to keep loving me, right honey?"

"...Right."

Willow took back over the thread of conversation. "So, we don't need the Council. We just need to get Mrs. Summers back and tell them all to piss off."

"I don't think they're just going to go away," Xander interjected.

"Look, you've hinted that they're willing to kill, right?" As everyone turned their attention to her, Cordelia continued, "We have to be careful here. These aren't harmless kittens we're dealing with."

"They're human," Angel growled softly.

"I don't want them dead. I just want them gone. I just want to make them give me back my mom and leave."

"They're not willingly going to accede to our demands." Giles rubbed a tired hand over his face.

"Then we go in and we take what we want, and we make it quite clear what the consequences to them will be if they keep fucking with the Slayer and our town," Spike said.

Angel turned to his childe. "If we charge in and rescue her mother, everything gets blown to kingdom come. All the secrets come out."

"Do we care?" Spike replied. "I'm getting tired of it." He looked around the group. "Everyone who matters, knows. I think they're already quite willing to kill Buffy. So, now they'll want to kill her even more. Doesn't mean you're going to let them, eh mate?"

A slow smile crossed the dark vampire's face. "So, we find out where they're holding Joyce, charge in, take her back, and make it very clear what will happen if they don't leave Sunnydale and the Slayer alone?"

"Sounds like a plan." Grinning at his own cleverness, Spike leaned back in his chair and tugged Willow's hand to his lips.

"We'll have to be on guard the rest of our lives," Giles said slowly, as his mind worked at accepting the idea of revealing their secrets.

"Already are, mate."

"They're scared shitless of the idea of Angelus, Rupert. Wait till they come face to face with the monster they fear."

Buffy looked up at Angel, a pleading look on her face. "No killing if you can help it."

He frowned, but nodded. "They deserve to be hung, drawn and quartered alive, darling."

"I'm sure they feel the same way about you. Don't you want to be better than them?"

Angel growled. "This being noble crap sucks."

Smiling slightly, Buffy leaned up and kissed him.

"That is just wrong on so many levels," Xander muttered.

Turning away from the sight of his charge kissing a monster, Giles cleared his throat. "So, how do we find where they're holding Joyce?"

Buffy pulled back from Angel. "Faith."

"You think she'll help?" Willow asked.

"Can you trust her?" Angel asked at the same time.

"Yes and yes. She...I can't really explain it, but there's a connection between us. We're sisters and that goes beyond the Council, beyond her revulsion over my relationship with Angel. She'll help us."

Giles nodded in agreement. "Your strength should be back by tonight and your new Watcher, a Mr. Haversham, will be here at seven. That gives us about nine hours to find Faith and start trying to locate your mother."

"Until we find her, I go along with whatever this new guy wants. I can't risk my mom."

"Yes, I agree."

"I can try to hack into local real estate sales and rentals, see if the Council has purchased or rented any space," Willow offered.

"And I have several aliases they might be using," Giles added.

"We can check the underworld sources."

Buffy gave Angel a grateful smile. "Then I'll go look for Faith."

Giles shook his head. "No, that might look too suspicious."

Cordelia sighed heavily. "I'll make the great sacrifice and find her, take her shopping or something. God knows the girl needs decent clothing and a serious make over."

"I know this is going to sound weird coming from me, but what about school?"

Everyone stared at Xander, who grinned and shrugged. "Oh well, what's one more black mark, huh?"

*****

Bleary eyed, Faith stared at the cheerleader on her doorstep. "Did you get lost, Veronica?"

Raising one eyebrow at the name-calling, Cordelia ran her eyes slowly down the Slayer's slender body. Black turtleneck with a growing hole in one elbow, black ratty looking cargo pants, black scuffed doc martens.

"We're going shopping," she said with a fake smile on her face.

"Huh?"

"Daddy's paying. I need emergency exfoliating, and I never like going to the spa alone, so I thought long and hard about who I knew that most needed a make over and...voila."

"I don't think so." Faith took a step backwards and started to shut the door.

"I really think you could use a new outfit, Faith," Cordelia insisted. "I'd ask Buffy, but she's all bruised and puffy."

A flicker of understanding shown in Faith's eyes and she nodded slowly. "Sure, who am I to turn down free clothes." Pulling the door shut behind her, she followed Cordelia to her car.

Once safely inside and heading for the mall, Cordelia explained just what they were doing.

"You think they have my room bugged?"

"I wouldn't put anything past them."

"But you trust me." Faith seemed a bit amazed at that.

"Buffy trusts you," Cordelia replied. "And I trust Buffy. Don't always like her or her life choices, but she has saved my butt on occasion. And I like her mom who totally does not deserve any of this crap."

"I can't believe they kidnaped her. It's just like the dream," Faith murmured.

"We're not going to let it go any farther. Joyce is not going to die."

"I'm pretty sure I can get Wesley to tell me where Travers and his band of psycho Watchers are. He's meeting with them now and should be back in a couple hours. We don't have to go to the mall."

Cordelia flashed the Slayer a smirky grin. "When I say make over, I mean make over."

Faith clutched her seatbelt and the overhead strap as they rounded a corner on two wheels, but wasn't sure if the sudden fear she felt was for the poor driving or the thought of being turned into a beauty queen.

*****

Sitting at her computer at the Summers' dining table, Willow clicked another icon and sighed. She'd been searching for nearly three hours without a break, with no luck, and growing hunger.

Buffy was sleeping, trying to let herself heal, but Willow knew that her sleep was restless. She'd cried out twice in the last hour from nightmares. Giles was sitting with her, trying to describe the current events in his journal.

Ms. Calendar was on her own laptop at the other end of the table, muttering to herself as she tried to crack the Watcher's database.

The two vampires had left an hour earlier to begin a systematic questioning of their underworld sources.

Willow was still a bit amazed at how everyone was working together.

The front door opened and Xander entered, laden with bags of tacos.

"Oh yay, my stomach's about to try to eat itself," Willow proclaimed, taking a proffered bag.

"I am food fetching man." Xander grinned as he headed for the kitchen for cans of pop.

Typing with one hand, Jenny reached for a taco with the other. "I don't think I've ever heard of a quintuple contraction matrix like this." She sighed in frustration. "And it's magically enhanced."

"It would be so useful for us if we could sneak in without them knowing, though. Then we keep their resources even as we boot them out of our lives," Willow replied, unwrapping a burrito.

"The resources they've gathered through the centuries must be amazing."

"The less Giles has to rely on Angelus for information, the better," Willow said after swallowing a large bite of burrito.

"Working alongside vampires is just wrong." Realizing what she'd said, Jenny looked up, chagrin on her face.

Willow grinned at her. "Don't worry. I totally agree. Working with, bad. Fucking with, good."

Jenny reddened, but was saved from commenting by Willow's phone ringing.

Flipping open the cell phone, Willow asked, "Hello?"

"Willow, can you get away for an hour or so and meet me at the apartment?" Spike asked.

"Um, I think so. I'm not having any luck with these aliases anyway. Why?"

"...Because this could all go South really fast and..."

The vibrant need in his voice sent a shiver through her, and Willow flushed. "I'll be there in twenty minutes."

*****

The apartment was filled with the sounds of Willow's favorite romantic music compilation when she entered. Locking the door behind her, she dumped her coat and purse on the dining room table, then headed for the bedroom.

"Spike?"

The bedroom was empty, but the bathroom was lit by candles. Pushing the door open, Willow smiled at the sight of her lover lounging in the tub, covered in strawberry scented bubbles. She kicked off her shoes and began to strip off her clothes, as he sipped a glass of wine.

"Were you dirty?" she asked, her voice husky with desire, as she stepped nude into the tub and sank to her knees between his spread legs.

"Um, always, luv." Reaching for her, Spike tugged her onto his lap, pulling her head onto his shoulder. As he brushed her hair away from her face, he held the glass to her lips. Willow took a sip, sighing softly as she began to relax.

"This is nice." Wrapping one hand around his shoulder, she closed her eyes and snuggled against his hot water warmed body.

"Don't go to sleep," Spike teased.

She could feel his erection pressing into her hip and quipped, "Like I'd do that with you poking me." With a smile on her face, she leaned up and kissed him softly.

"Poking, huh? Sounds like fun." Spike growled and gyrated his hips, making the water slosh and Willow giggle, her eyes popping open.

Carefully she moved to straddle him, pressing his hard cock between their stomachs, as she kissed him again, this time with open mouth and eager tongue. Spike's hands cupped her bottom, moving her against him, until she was panting with desire. As he lifted her, Willow reached down and guided him inside her, sinking down with a soft sigh.

She began to move on him, rocking back and forth, moaning his name as he filled and stretched her, sending sparks of pleasure through her. Leaning back against the edge of the tub, Spike watched through hooded eyes as she rode him gently and slowly, building their need. His hands slid up her wet body to cup her breasts, his thumbs rubbing her tender nipples until she hissed and arched into this touch.

Breathing hard, Willow opened her eyes and stared down into his, the connection between them making her move faster. She gripped the side of the tub and leaned down to kiss him passionately. The new angle drove him deeper, and Spike groaned into her mouth, lifting his hips helplessly to thrust into her.

Water spilled over the side of the tub as they drove together faster. Spike's hands tightened on her breasts, pushing Willow up and yanking her down, making her cry out with each thrust. Catching her lower lip between her teeth, she fell forward, bucking her hips as the base of his cock rubbed her clit with each stroke.

Spike wrapped his arms around her and dragged her mouth to his as he thrust wildly, spilling himself into her.

Moaning in need, Willow squirmed on him, trying to keep him moving as he collapsed beneath her. Spike kissed her gently, murmuring his love into her mouth, as she shivered on top of him, on the edge of release.

Carefully, Spike turned them, pressing Willow's limp body against the end of the tub and sliding between her thighs. Catching her knees, he lifted her legs over his shoulders and dove beneath the water.

As his mouth brushed over her throbbing clit, Willow's eyes opened wide and she yelped in surprise. Staring at her submerged lover, she panted harshly as she watched his head move between her legs. His tongue slid inside her and she cried out again, her hand lashing out and wrapping around the side of the tub for support.

"Oh fuck..."

Beneath the water, Spike smiled and rubbed his nose against her clit. Her cries filtered down to him and he lashed his tongue up and down her swollen cleft, driving her crazy, before finally fastening his lips around her clit and sucking on the tender bit of flesh.

Willow nearly came out of the tub as her orgasm crashed through her. Shuddering, she slipped down beneath the water, then shoved herself up, gasping.

Spike raised his head and grinned wolfishly at her. "Lots of benefits of not having to breathe."

"Oh...fuck..."

*****

Wesley stared down at his Slayer in surprise.

"Did you do something to your hair?"

Rolling her eyes as she walked past him into his room, Faith blew a bubble with her gum and flopped on the bed. "I was bored."

"It looks very nice."

She tried not to flush at the compliment. She knew it looked nice, but she'd never admit that to the cheerleader. Her hair was softer, falling just to her shoulders and curling into the point of her chin. She'd had a facial as well, and a manicure. Red nail polish replaced the green.

And she was wearing her new clothes. Still black, but leather pants, a black cotton sweater, and new docs as the old ones were nearly soleless.

"So, have a nice meeting with the other Watchers?"

"Ah, yes. Um..." Wesley took a seat across from her, on the lone chair. "There have been some changes. Mr. Giles has been removed as Buffy's Watcher."

"Huh? Why?"

"Her...wilfulness is being blamed on him. He has given her too much leeway in her actions."

"So, what's that mean for me?"

"We will be staying in Sunnydale until Buffy and her new Watcher make some progress in bringing an end to Angelus' reign of terror."

"Oh...good."

"As she seems to still have feelings for the monster, it may fall to you to eliminate him."

Faith brightened. "Cool. So, is the Council staying around for a while?"

"Hm? Oh, yes, for a few weeks, to make sure that Mr. Giles doesn't interfere, and that Buffy...well that she falls more in line with the traditional methods and means of slaying. I'll be taking an apartment for the two of us. The Council will remain in their offices here, perhaps even establishing a secondary permanent sanctuary."

"Well, I guess that kind of makes sense since this is the Hellmouth. Can I meet them?"

Wesley beamed at her. "Yes, I think that would be quite appropriate."

"So where are these offices?"

"They're currently renting a nice building at the corner of Elm and 10th. There's room there for training space. You and Buffy work well together, perhaps you can continue to train with her there."

"Sure. Well, I'm gonna go grab some dinner before patrol. You coming?"

He looked around a moment, then picked up his briefcase. "No, I have to finish filling out these progress reports. You have your phone?"

As she rose to her feet, Faith patted her pocket. "I'll report in, boss."

"Be careful."

"Always am."

*****

As Faith slumped into the seat across from him at McDonalds, Xander stopped drumming his fingers on the table. She flashed him a grin and he relaxed.

"Elm and 10th."

"That was easy. Too easy?"

Faith shook her head and picked up the hamburger he'd bought for her. "Nah. Wesley doesn't have a devious bone in his body."

Nodding in understanding, Xander sipped his coke, then grinned. "You really let Cordy do you up, huh?"

Scowling, Faith snagged a handful of his fries. "She's a menace."

He chuckled. "You have no idea."

"So, you guys sure you don't want me backing you up?"

"No, it's better that you stay out of it. If it goes bad, well, you'll still be around as Slayer. And if it goes good, you'll still be in the good graces of the Council."

"As long as they don't figure it out. I don't have anyone for them to use against me, so I guess they'd just kill me."

She said it lightly, but Xander gave her a concerned look and took her hand. "If we win, you're welcome to stay here with us. I know Buffy'd want it."

Faith looked at him, seeing the caring in his eyes. "I've never had anyone care anything for me outside of what they could get out of me, but Buffy...all of you, even your cheerleader..."

"We're a family, dysfunctional as hell, but still a family, and you're a part of it."

She smiled and squeezed his hand. "That feels really nice, Xander."

He smiled back, then let go of her hand to reach for his drink. "But, I guess we should see how it all plays out."

"Yeah...I hope it's as easy as the vampire thinks it will be," Faith sighed.

"Nothing is ever easy on the Hellmouth."

Faith shot him a grin. "Hey, maybe he'll rescue Joyce and then fall on a stake."

Xander grinned back. "We can only hope." 

End Chapter The Plan Comes Together


	14. All's Well That Ends Well?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything wraps up...until the big finale of the series...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally published on April 24, 2002, almost four months after the previous chapter. I apologized for the delay and "for what turned out to be a sad and short ending to the story".
> 
> Original notes: I had vague plans of several chapters, of storming into rescue Joyce, of posturing and threatening the Council, of more smut....but I just couldn't find my muse. So, here's a much briefer and less satisfactory wrapping up of "Trials". Thanks to all who have been with me through the two years it's taken to write what should have taken about two months...

In the end it was easier than anyone would have guessed.

Easily holding Quentin Travers by the scruff of his neck, Angel watched with quiet gloating as Buffy fell sobbing into her mother's arms. A dozen well-armed goons lay unconscious on the floor, while the three remaining Watchers huddled in a corner guarded by Spike and Willow, each one armed with a small crossbow.

Only the young one, Wesley Wyndham-Price, had his face turned towards the room. He was watching Angel, speculation gleaming in his eyes.

Angel grinned evilly as Cordelia held up a broken fingernail, complaining loudly, then kicked one of the unconscious men in the hip with her pointed toe boot.

"Buffy...I don't understand..." Joyce began, looking over her daughter's shoulder in bewilderment.

Pulling back and sniffling, Buffy tightened her hold around her mother's shoulders. "I don't care who knows anymore. I just...I just had to get you back."

"But the risk..."

"I don't care. Look at how easy it was to take down this small bunch. They send in an army and we'll still beat them."

"We knew something was going on here," Travers coughed out, his voice strangled with bitter fury. "But, for a Slayer to be a vampire's whore..."

Growling, Angel tightened his hold until Travers face began to turn purple.

Buffy pulled away from her mother. "Angel, let him go, please."

As the vampire opened his hand, the Watcher tumbled to the floor, gasping for breath.

Nursing a wrenched shoulder, Giles walked over to him and crouched down. "When I found out, I felt much the same way, Quentin, but I quickly came to accept that without this...alliance, the Hellmouth would have been compromised nearly a year ago and the world would have been lost."

Travers struggled to his knees, his face going from purple to red in anger. "Nothing will ever justify her betrayal, Rupert."

Giles looked at him sadly before rising to his feet. "To you and the rest of the Council, bound by ancient tradition, lost in ancient ways, Buffy will never fit your idea of a Slayer." He turned and bestowed a smile on his young Slayer. "That is precisely why she is the best there has ever been."

As Giles opened his arms, Buffy ran to him and flung herself in them, hugging him tightly.

*****

It really had been simple. The group had massed down the street from the office building the Council had leased, the Scooby Gang armed with staffs, Spike with a crossbow and a second one he demanded Willow take, Angel and Buffy weaponless. Although Angel was perfectly happy to kill all the Watchers and their men, Buffy demanded that no one be seriously injured.

Even though the dozen men guarding the place were armed with guns, the speed and fury of the vampires easily disarmed them, knocking half of them unconscious before they could even lift a weapon. The others went down after brief battles, Giles, Xander and even Cordelia quite proficient with their staffs.

The four Watchers were the easiest to capture. When faced with two master vampires and a very pissed off Slayer, all but Wesley surrendered without a fight. Giles took down Wesley after five minutes, suffering only his wrenched shoulder, while the younger Watcher earned several nasty bruises in the duel with wooden staffs.

Joyce was found in a locked room in the very center of the building, shaken and frightened, but unhurt. Willow released her with a gentle hug, relief flooding both women.

Everyone was amazed at how smoothly the operation had went.

Though Angel was a bit disappointed no one bled very much.

*****

"Thank you, Giles," Buffy whispered, her tears of happiness and relief wetting his shirt.

"Thanks are unnecessary, Buffy," he replied gruffly. "Regardless of the Council's decision, I am your Watcher and I will stand by you through any and every trial the world throws at you." Turning so that his good arm was around her shoulders, he guided her over to where Travers had risen shakily to his feet. "You and the Council are not welcome here, Quentin."

"Don't be a fool, Rupert." He glanced warily over his shoulder at Angel. "They will turn on you at the first opportunity."

"Quite possibly," Giles replied silkily. "On the other hand, they may be all that is keeping the world spinning. Love really is a wondrous thing."

Travers gave him a look of utter revulsion, then straightened his spine. "We will have nothing more to do with this Slayer or you, Mr. Giles. Her line should have ended two years ago. Faith is the Slayer. Miss Summers is an aberration."

"If that means you're leaving town and never coming back, you can call me all the names you want," Buffy quipped. "I don't need your help to keep the Hellmouth closed. I don't want it. The price is way too high."

"Yes, actually expecting you to do your job and slay vampires, much too high a price," Travers replied snidely, looking pointedly at Angel.

"If you call my lover a whore again, Watcher, you *won't* leave this town in one piece," Angel growled menacingly.

"Nice posturing, dead boy," Xander quipped as he began to disarm the guards. "Can we keep the guns?"

Buffy shook her head. "Guns and Slayers don't mix. Let's just turn them over to the police for melting down."

Jenny glanced cooly at the M16 in her hand. "This will make a nice paperweight."

*****

Several hours later the whole gang, even Joyce, stood on the tarmac of the small Sunnydale Airport watching every member of the Watcher's Council and their guards, secretaries and other underlings board a private plane. A copy of a termination of lease for the property they had rented was in Giles' coat pocket along with his official letter of termination and pittance of a check for severance pay.

Wesley and Faith were the last ones to board the plane, and they both turned back to the group of humans, vampires, and Slayer. When Spike and Willow had accompanied Wesley to find Faith an hour earlier, she had done a great job of portraying shock and horror on learning of the 'truth', but the facade was slipping, and a smile was breaking on her face.

"It's been...real, B."

"Be careful, Faith. Don't die."

Faith's eyes traveled to Angel where he stood just behind the petite blonde Slayer, a menacing and protective force of nature. "You too." Hesitantly she held out one hand, and then both girls were hugging tightly. "Take care of everything you have here, Buffy. Family, friends, they're more precious than I ever imagined," she whispered.

"You're a part of that family now, Faith. You'll always be welcome here."

Pulling back, Faith smiled down at the blonde girl. "I may take you up on that offer some day." She glanced up at Angel again and smirked. "Keep him in line."

As the master vampire scowled, the two Slayers giggled and hugged again.

Wesley continued to watch the proceedings with a speculative eye as he turned to Giles, holding out his hand. The older man looked at it for a moment, then took it. "My illusions have been shattered, Mr. Giles. I'm not certain that's such a bad thing."

Giles nodded towards the plane. "If the Council continues like this, Mr. Wyndham-Price, we may all be doomed. This is a new world. We must have new ways of thinking."

"And I have much to think about," Wesley continued, nodding in agreement. "But, vampires and Slayers working together..." A rueful smile played on his lips. "That may take a bit of time to come close to understanding let alone accepting."

"If just one person is willing to attempt that understanding, than change is possible."

Wesley nodded again and shook Giles' hand more firmly. "It has been educational, Mr. Giles. Take care of your Slayer."

"You, too."

After further farewells from the gang to Faith, the remaining two boarded the plane and the door was pulled up behind them.

"Good riddance," Cordelia called, waving at the plane.

Wrapping his arms around her from behind, Xander chuckled. "Life sure is weird around here."

"Duh."

"I can't believe it's over," Joyce said softly, reaching for her daughter.

"It is, mom. Angel put the fear of god into them; they won't be back."

"I resent that," Angel replied playfully. "Unless you're calling me a god."

Chuckling, Buffy thwapped him on the shoulder, then hugged her mother again.

Jenny reached into Giles' inner pocket and pulled out the check. "Well, this is just about enough to cover a celebration at Dennys."

Giles smiled and kissed her. "Yes, comfort food and hot coffee is on me."

"Good, I'm starved, it's cold..."

As Cordelia complained, Willow looked up at Spike and sank into his embrace. "So...all's well that ends well?"

"Apparently." He smiled down at her and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"And they lived happily ever after."

Willow's light-hearted words sent a sudden chill through Spike and he looked up to meet his sire's amused eyes.

End


End file.
